Treasures Of Heaven And Earth

Using the Monkey Movement Dao, Chún bounded from tree to tree at a fraction of his top speed - nonetheless, despite curving away from the trail to avoid the group of villagers, he quickly left them far behind.

A few moments later, he landed at the start of the trail at the base of the old Mountain on Golden Planet. "O.K. this gives us about a shi before the rest of them get back down here. It should be enough time to create something simple," he stated matter-of-factly to Tai, "Something like a house shrine, do you think?"

"A road shrine or temple would be better," advised his locus.

"I have never left the village," Chún reminded him, "I do not know what one of those looks like."

Chún felt a thoughtful sort of consideration from the link between them, then an Essence illusion formed in his view of a small, open shrine with a pagoda style roof, dragon columns and a simple altar in the center.

Chún made a thoughtful noise and sat down on his haunches, "Where did you get that from?"

"It is a scaled down replica of the center pagoda of a temple in the Imperial City," replied his friend.

"Hmm, it looks like it. Too fancy I think - anything simpler?" asked Chún, "Something that fits with the whole - nature, mountain spirit idea we are focusing on."

The illusion changed to a much more rustic wooden covering, unadorned wooden pillars holding up a simple thatched roof with a simple stone in the center.

"Eh… that looks like it would need someone to take care of it… we have been letting the villagers think we found the ruins of an Ancient Medicinal Sect or something up here - what about something that looks like it might come from an ancient sect like that?"

Tai rumbled thoughtfully, "As if 'we' just uncovered an old structure from the 'Ancient Sect' suitable for reuse?" The illusion wavered then solidified into a delicate but ancient looking stone structure, half embedded in the hill at the side of the start of the trail.

The young true Cultivator regarded the illusion thoughtfully. The stone visible under overgrown bushes, vines and creepers was cracked and pitted, giving off a feeling of age and time, but still shone with a slight l.u.s.ter.

Where there were clear spots in the overgrown plants clambering over the structure, worn carvings could be seen on the stone - ironically of various medicinal Essence plants, herbs and fruits. The roof of the temple was made of a strange material that was shaped very unusually for a roof. It took Chún a moment to recognise material as the ceramic he had developed - it helped the roof of the small temple was in the shape of an upside-down alchemist's cauldron, with worn sculptures covering its surface that he recognised as reasonable copies of the Essence manifestations that were visible on his own 'Legendary Artifact' that he had inadvertently created.

Chún blinked then laughed. "Heh, it looks very strange. Would it not be better if the altar is a small Cauldron instead? And we could make the pillars carved like Her Highness, or the Silver Tree and make the roof a pagoda with His Highness and the Shé Yin' as the roof guardians?"

"I thought you said it was to look simple…" reminded Tai. Nevertheless, the illusion shifted again. His locus rumbled discontentedly, "It looks like something a second generation with more money than sense would dream up."

The illusion flashed and came together in a very different form. A scaled down version of the World Tree, carved out of the hill from an exposed stone niche, the branches melding together 'out' to form an overhang - the whole structure and shape of the rock behind it formed a shallow cave dug into the hillside that petitioners could take refuge under.

Half of the carving vanished into the stone of the hill as if an unknown Sculptor had cut away part of a naturally occuring outcrop to expose the tree, but had failed to break it free. At the base of the half exposed trunk, that had been carved out of the exposed sat a copy of Chún's 'Legendary' Alchemic Cauldron artifact, tilted slightly to one side as if rocking free from stone.

"That is good - now weather it and make it look like it was only recently uncovered," Chún nodded repeatedly as the illusion adjusted, "Yes, that looks like it has been there since ancient times and it is obviously related to alchemy and medicine - maybe add more sculptures of plants and herbs inside the nook - make them look worn… en, like that."

Stone carvings of incense sticks were added to the rim of the cauldron altar, sticking up in the traditional offering bundle - presumably to give petitioners an idea where to place their requests. The rest of the small niche was only roughly finished compared to the sculpture carved out of the hillside, with occasional small carvings of herbs, pills, plants. The whole niche looked overgrown with just enough cleared away to make the it visible from the path, as if it had been there but obscured from casual discovery for a very long time.

Chún had also asked Tai to add a traditional stone temple lantern - like the one he had seen at the small temple in the village - similarly carved, worn and weathered, at the mouth of the niche. Anyone seeing it would automatically know that this was a place to leave offerings and make requests. Tai had made sure it was of a very ancient style, but the lantern was still recognisable for what it was.

"En. What do I do now?" asked Chún once the illusion was acceptable to both of them.

"Provide an equal balance of all Essence types - as you do when you are molding the clay for the Dao Pots. I will guide the Essence to grow the land into the shape we have chosen," replied his locus, "but you should carefully watch how I shape the Essence to add to the land. Eventually, you will need to be able to do this yourself without my assistance - especially in low Essence areas - when you are creating new Essence materials or treasures. This is a good learning experience for you."

"En," responded the young teen, respectfully controlling his excitement as he considered, "Friend, this is a… it is like a bigger version of working with clay, combined with what we did with the stone in the geese pasture to create the grotto?"

"Yes, but this time we are providing Essence to create the materials that are not present here - an advancement in Cultivation," explained the Mountain, "It must be done carefully, to prevent forcing or hurting the natural Dao pattern of the land here."

"I think I understand," agreed Chún carefully, "If Essence is added to a location, its Dao patterns will naturally take the chance to grow; then we can suggest or ask the Dao patterns to choose to change in a specific way."

"What will you do if the Dao Pattern rejects your request?" questioned Tai.

"Then…." Chún rubbed his glabella in thought for a moment. Eventually, he answered slowly, "There… would be a reason why the Dao Patterns would resist. Either there is a better pattern for it to grow into than what we are suggesting - or something is wrong that needs to be fixed, before the Dao Pattern can be grown."

"How do you think you can tell the difference, between something being wrong and having to fix it, versus letting it grow into a pattern it wants," questioned his locus.

"I think a twisted or broken Dao pattern would feel wrong," replied the young True Cultivator, "other than that… I am not sure."

"It will be something you will eventually learn from experience," stated Tai, "it is a more advanced True Cultivation aspect. Here, are no complex patterns, so the patterns will likely agree to follow any suggestions we make - as long as we provide the Essence and allow them to find the natural path to grow into the patterns we want."

"I will pay attention," promised Chún, "perhaps then I will understand more."

"Very well," agreed Tai, "Please ensure that you are also providing Celestial Essence along with the Elemental Essences. As we are essentially creating something completely new, rather than helping an existing pattern advance, Celestial Essence is essential as it is the Essence that sparks and drives creation."

Chún scratched his head, "I am somewhat confused - I know we are creating something new, but I thought we were merely encouraging the existing stone in the hillside to grow into a new pattern."

"This is why this exercise is more advanced and is not possible without Celestial Essence," explained Tai patiently, "no matter how much Elemental Essence we provide this hillside, its Dao pattern would not have the potential to advance - unlike, say, the Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade bed I created in the grotto - that stone had been exposed to Essence long enough and had some unique elements and characteristics that gave it the potential to eventually advance into Cold Jade. The natural process would have normally taken some tens of thousands of years…"

"...but you sped up the natural process of the growth of the Dao pattern of the stone, by providing the ideal conditions and the Essence," realised the young teen, "in fact, other than the Dao Pots, that is what I have always done."

"Precisely. Similar to the process of firing clay to transmute it to ceramic and creating a new material, Celestial Essence allows new Dao Patterns to be created naturally without destruction of the existing world around it. And before you ask, Consumers can not create Celestial Essence - only Immortals start to access that level of energy as their internal worlds become true universes and they begin to establish their own Heavens and Earth."

"Like you did when you broke one of the chains, holding you to the Golden Crow universe," said Chún in understanding.

"Similar to that, yes. Now - Essence, please, True Cultivator," Tai's 'mental voice' took on a respectful tone as he made the request. Chún bowed slightly in mutual respect then sat himself with the illusion in front of him in an orthodox meditation posture.

He had asked Tai about the best way to Cultivate during his frustrating attempt to walk his livestock back to the Heaven and Earth Vine clearing; his locus had shown him a number of the Land's 'Memories' of various Daoists, Consumers, monks and so forth meditating.

Most of the various forms and postures did not appeal to him but oddly enough one of the oldest and most standard seats resonated with him; with the World Tree staff laying across his crossed legs and his hands held lightly curved, palms upwards atop his knees, he breathed in and let his body phase into the pulse of the Mountain as easily as his next breath.

The six types of Essence flowed out of his body with the pulse and with his Essence Sense he watched as it flowed into Dao Patterns which traced the shapes and forms of the illusion.

The hillside hollowed out created the niche even as various plants grew outward to partially obscure the entrance, surfaces bulging, twisting and forming into the shapes and sculptures of the illusion. Gradually, the illusion was replaced with real stone, plants and colors.

Half a shi later, Chún looked at the almost completely hidden shrine. The temple lantern, situated closer to the edge of the trail drew the eye to the overgrown entrance though - especially the pale shimmer of Essence that danced around where a flame would normally be lit.

"That is a little more attention grabbing than I was hoping for," remarked the young teen ruefully, "and then the shrine itself…"

"Well, since you have seen the real World Tree, it probably influenced the Dao Patterns we grew - it explains why all the rock shaded tones to match what the real tree would look like. But it only advanced a little - some basic quartz and a few different types of rock of the appropriate colors; not even semi-precious stones," countered Tai.

"The matching wisps of Elemental Essence lighting up the various parts of the sculpture with the correct colors and the trickle of Fire Essence that keeps the stone incense sticks lit?" argued Chún in good humor.

"It is an Ancient Sect's Shrine after all. And the amounts are small enough that it will not raise too many eyebrows, given the generally increased levels of Essence on the mountain," his friend rebutted.

"That is fair," admitted Chún after a little thought, "and it does look like it has been there a long time."

"Task complete," pronounced the Mountain grandly.

"I suppose so. What should we do next?" wondered the young teen.

"Well your Legendary Artifact is demanding you feed it Celestial Essence and start using it to concoct alchemic pills so it can work on advancement; I think you need to start to learn Essence Forging, make more ceramics and Dao Pots if you are going to start supplying the village with goods and keep up the illusion of the ruin of an Ancient Sect up here," listed out his locus.

"How am I going to learn Forging without a teacher?" demanded Chún as he hopped back into the trees and headed back towards the dimensional gateway that led back to his home.

"The basics of forming minerals and ores into metals I can teach you," replied Tai, "The World does that sort of thing all the time - it usually takes many tens of thousands of years - but we can speed up the process."

The Mountain paused as Chún rolled his eyes at his locus' last statement, then continued Creating artifacts, well you will have to learn it on your own as you did with the ceramics - I do not think a ordinary Essence Forger would be able to teach you - the way you do things with Essence is not anything like the Consumer way."

"It still would give me a place to start," grumbled Chún, "I also need to gather Essence Herbs and hunt for materials if I am to have more 'ordinary' goods to sell at the market." he paused on a large tree branch as a thought struck him. "How far away are the livestock anyway?"

"Still a few days travel at the pace they are moving."

Chún sighed. "I want some adventure and fun too. If I have to spend another twenty days doing nothing but making stuff I am going to go crazy. I need to work on my battle techniques and Essence techniques as well."

"You have the entirety of the brand new Mountain Planet to explore," pointed out his locus, "More beasts and treasures are crossing over from other planes every day."

Chún s.u.c.k.e.d in his breath, "No problems like those, world eater things?"

"Not as yet," answered the Mountain soberly as Chún started using the Monkey Movement Dao again, "The World Tree is selective about what it lets through remember? And nothing strong enough to overpower it has appeared yet."

Chún dropped back into the grotto clearing and walked back through the gate to the Mountain Planet. "Lots to do… best get to it then."