Treasures Of Heaven And Earth

It took less than a kè for the Gi Heir to organise for the group to move to the tea-house's small inner garden courtyard, making a small production of ordering the peddler to bring his wares inside, 'where one might at least enjoy comfort, rather than all this commotion'.

The old man grumbled audibly to the nearby stall owners who were watching interestedly - and quickly got wrapped up trading stories about similar demands from clan spoiled brats a bit - before leaving them to the discussion and pushing his oversized, covered gliding horse into the tea-house.

He was met by Chian who took him swiftly through to the inner courtyard. Though the tea house was small, the old Enforcer noted approvingly that they did not meet anyone else on the way through to the courtyard at the end of a short corridor.

Once in the garden, the sounds and smells of Market Street faded away, creating a small oasis of calm inside the hectic market area. Seeing the older man looking around and pinpointing various formation anchors integrated into the various miniature landscaping around the courtyard and pond, Gi Chian nodded, "Yes, Senior, this courtyard is designed for privacy - Míng and I are also adding extra temporary Formations that we will keep active while we discuss business. We would, of course, welcome your input on the privacy Formations."

The older man inclined his head as they quickly reached the centre of the small courtyard. Leaving the gliding horse to the side of the large, round, carved, stone table the rest of the group was gathering around, bringing in the snacks and tea they had been drinking, he retrieved Formation inscribing tools from his Gliding Horse and followed the Gi Heir to where the Eldest Guan Heiress was currently stabbing small inscribed dowels of food into the ground around the table.

---

Dàilán and the others watched as the three Formation masters moved in a quick circle, placing dowels, inscribing Essence Runes and once after a quick discussion that seemed to be composed of indecipherable single words traded back and forth between the three, moved a particular stone in the tiny sand garden.

There was a prickle of strong Essence Formations activating and the two younger Formations Masters turned and bowed deeply to the older one who bowed back and then laughed as the other two smiled.

"Truly, if you two are examples of the younger generation, I have no worry for the future of my Art," the old peddler announced happily, "that was remarkable work, from both of you."

"They have been learning from a Sect Formations Master," remarked the BloodWitch from her seat at the table where the remainder of the group watched the three, "it is good to hear the effort has not gone to waste."

"The Sect has significantly improved the level of its teaching in that case," responded the Elder Enforcer as he led the three of them back to the table and stowed his tools back in a compartment of the gliding horse..

"As to that, you would have to ask the Heir for details," the young looking enforcer shrugged, "Monitor Leng said it was thanks to her and refused to be drawn further on the subject - said it was her choice whether or not to disclose it."

Reminded, the older man bowed smoothly to Dàilán, "Greetings, Heir. I apologise for not greeting you properly last time."

Dàilán waved her hand in protest, "No need, Senior… at the time it would have not been appropriate - and even though things have changed since our last meeting, it is not something I am displaying publicly," She dipped her head apologetically, "I must apologise for the change in plans - a great deal has occurred since we last met."

"Quite true," replied the older man happily as the three found seats around the table and accepted cups of tea and plates of snacks from Biyu and Chàng, who had taken it upon themselves to make sure everyone had something, "I received the dispatches about your official appointment - and the odd bit of gossip that the circ.u.mstances were out of the ordinary."

The Bloodwitch snorted as Dàilán's cheeks pinked, "She beat out the ranking Genii and convinced me to stand down in a mock battle - nearly killed a Grass infiltrator in the process," she grimaced, "I should have let you gut him."

"You did not know at the time," pointed out Dàilán levelly, "I trust that would not be a problem next time?"

"Only if I do not gut him first," the other Enforcer muttered as Chénli laughed grimly and mumbled, "get in line."

"Not all of this plotting to destroy our enemies is not lovely and everything," Yue interjected brightly, "but we came here to shop! I have to say, Senior, that the Essence Herbs you sold my Cousin last time were remarkable. I am responsible for the Essence Herb gardens of the Guan Clan and I have never seen such potent herbs at that rank before."

"They boosted our Compound's defence defence formations considerably," agreed Ming, "We would like to organise exclusive access to the source."

"Oi," protested Chian mildly, subsiding as Míng patted his hand soothingly and blinked her eyes at him. Fatty Ji was shaking his head in amus.e.m.e.nt as he sat back and watched his usually unflinching brother back down so quickly while rolling his eyes at his own intended's antics.

"Not the best way to get bargains, by extolling my own wares, girls," the old peddler said with some humour, though the look in his eyes was calculating.

Yue smiled, "Ah, but you are sworn to family. So let us bargain without pretence - and of course, you would not cheat family - not to mention we are almost honorary Sect members at this point - whatever benefits us, benefits you."

The Bloodwitch tapped on the table warningly, "girl, it is good you added that 'almost' in there - or it would have been extra physical training tomorrow."

Yue flinched and Ji Chāng quickly muffled a laugh turning it into a cough behind his hand as Yue glared at him.

The Eldest Enforcer laughed, then turned to his still sealed gliding horse and laid a hand onto it. With a flash of Essence, the gliding horse with the large covered 'box' on it unfolded out into a three segment stall. He got up from his seat and walked behind the still folded display bench and opened one of the many tiny pigeon holes behind it.

The opening expanded, pushing the other small closed squares around it aside, allowing the peddler to reach in and retrieve a large ceramic pot, with thick greenery overflowing from its mouth.

Returning to the stone table, he placed it in front of Dàilán with a bow, "A gift to commemorate your successful ascension to the Heirship, Lady." He looked around at the others, "Compared to what I have this time, what I sold you last time is trash."

The others looked at the pot with various levels of incredulity. Yue was the first to react, "That… that is not possible!" She pulled a number of small tools from somewhere and started waving them around the plant - even going so far as snipping off a tiny portion of a leaf and dropping into a solution in a small crystal vial, her expression intent as she shook the resulting mixture.

Dàilán blinked, "Ah… Cousin? It is a plant in a pot... I believe we have quite a number of them scattered around the Compound."

It was Heir Ji who answered, his eyes narrowed, "It is an - Essence Herb - in a pot. And it is still alive."

"More than alive, it is thriving! And… Peak Sky... Rank…" Yue placed the vial down on the table with shaking hands and stared at the plant in astonishment.

"What… that is imposs… oh…" Dàilán sat back in embarrassment, then blinked, "I do not feel… I am not sensing any Essence from it."

Chian spoke, his voice trembling, "There are… the pot is a Formation…"

Míng shot him a look then pulled out her inscriber and started swiftly writing runes on the table around the pot. A moment later the runes lit up, shimmering with different colours of Essence, she sat back in astonishment, "you are… it is acting like a formation - there are the flows of Essence, but there are no runes or Formation inscribed on it."

The old man snorted, "Believe me, I have spent the last couple of days, after my travels stopped for the night, trying to figure it out. The pots maintain the perfect environment for the plant - allowing Essence Plants to be transplanted while concealing their presence. If you do not know it is an Essence Plant, it feels like an ordinary one."

"Essence Plants are notorious for withering once they are moved from the place they grew - everything has to be perfect to have a seed germinate or have a cutting sprout," stated Yue in a voice of someone who still could not believe what she was seeing, "it takes years - decades - to build up the Formations necessary to create the balances of Essence to allow a particular Essence Herb to grow in a Essence Garden - soil, temperature, moisture, type of weather or Essence exposure - and it is almost impossible to transplant wild herbs and expect them to grow. Usually we grow them painstakingly from seeds or cuttings and throw resources at them."

Dàilán blinked in confusion, "but those other herbs, you just planted them…"

"And we were almost impossibly fortunate," argued Míng - as Yue seemed unable to respond - "because the Herbs were still alive, hardy and reasonably low Rank…"

"...we happened to have appropriate Essence rich spots for them as well," interjected Yue, "really, I had hoped - that is why I was rushing - but I could not believe that they were still viable after being removed from their original location for so long - that is what I thought… but this is…" she gestured shakily at the pot, he face pale, "against the Will of the Heavens. The higher rank a herb is, the less likely it will survive or grow anywhere other than its original location. They certainly do not continue growing as if they had not been touched..."

As the others continued discussing the so-called impossibility of what was on the table, Dàilán thought for a moment and then slipped into a very light meditation, watching her essence flowing through her own body - she had become so used to it, it was easily done without any outward show of distraction - then she lightly touched the pot in front of her.

Now she was in direct contact with the pot she could sense a very slow release of Essence outside the pot, but almost everything generated by the Essence Herb was re-circulated - the amount released was only just slightly more than what the pot was drawing in from the environment around it, so it was barely noticeable.

To her amazement, but not complete astonishment, she could see slow flows of Essence cycling through the structure of the ceramic, being pulled in from outside, ordered, measured and fed to the Essence Herb and the soil in the pot, with the unneeded quantities flowing out. It looked very similar to her own natural Essence circulation, if much slower.

"It is almost… like a naturally occurring Formation," she said quietly, which halted the conversation as everyone else noticed her actions.

There was a miǎo's silence then a confused babble as the three Formation Masters all started talking at once. Dàilán felt a gentle tug on her arm, pulling her hand away from the pot and breaking her out of the meditation. She looked away from the pot to find Chénli pulling her arm away, looking at her with a slight frown and shaking her head.

"It cannot be a naturally occurring formation," the old peddler said authoritatively, "whatever else it is or whatever else it is made of, it is a pot. A pot has to be crafted, thus it cannot form a natural formation within it - natural formations develop over many thousands of years from a combination of living and nonliving elements in a location."

"Depends on how old the pot is," pointed out Fatty Ji, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"No, a pot is dead," argued Yue, "the formation would have to be somehow added to the pot while it was made - and that by definition, is not a natural formation."

"Nor have we ever heard of a Formation without adding the runes to the object after being made," added Míng, with the other two Formation Masters nodding in agreement.

"So… an ancient technique," speculated Dàilán, her excitement mounting as she talked about her favourite subject, "so… this is possible proof that whomever you bought this from has discovered the ruins of an ancient sect - maybe even a sealed plane or treasure land."

"The Relic Hunter I purchased these from made a passing mention about finding the ruins of a Ancient Medicinal Sect," the old peddler remarked as he went back to his stall, pulled down his counter and started laying out items on the counter, pulling them out one after the other - more pots full of various herbs, fungi and plants; Essence Beast hides and furs, small pots with pills in them, Essence Beast ivory and bone, Essence Fruits, strange pieces of beautiful ceramic art and statuettes that literally glowed with colour and Essence Stones of a very high grade.

The peddler only stopped when the bench was full, then spread his hands, "this is the best of what I obtained from that Relic Hunter - and that includes the Essence Stones - he said he had no need of them - wanted mortal currency in return for his harvests."

The group approached the bench and Biyu said in a small voice, "it feels like the Essence Herb garden back at the compound."

"Everything is giving off high levels of Essence," said Ài in wonder, "I have never seen so many Essence Treasures in one place - even the artworks..."

"Perhaps the Relic Hunter is not a Cultivator…?" muttered Chian, "that seems unlikely - all of this is literally soaked with high levels of Essence - and some of those Essence Beast components are from high ranking beasts - a mortal would never survive. I have never seen treasures of this level and my Clan is First rank."

"Ji businesses trade across half of Golden Crow and I have rarely seen anything to match," agreed Fatty Ji, calculation reflecting in his gaze as he looked at the trader's stall, "and even then it was a single item at a time - not this…" the young merchant sorted through the pile of Essence Stones with the ease of practice, "these are high level beast cores, expertly extracted.... perfect for Cultivation - what Cultivator would sell these?"

"Something odd is going on in that village," replied the older Enforcer as the group crowded around, examining a small kingdom's ransom of Essence Treasures, "it was controlled by a low level bandit band under the control of a few mid level Grass Cultists - which, incidentally is why I was even bothering to go out there - my trading persona was cover for an investigation I was conducting for the whole region around Hujian and stretching up towards the Capital."

He shrugged, "I had not even bothered to go that far out before my previous trip - and if it was not for the items I purchased there that first time and the rumours of a Relic Hunter that had made a find - I would not have bothered going back."

He pulled out a scroll from somewhere and unrolled it on the bench - pushing some of the items on it aside to make room - to reveal a map of the Lotus Empire, pointing out the relevant locations as he spoke, "most of their warc.h.e.s.t is coming from criminal operations closer to the centre of the Empire, so I had been focusing my efforts here," he pointed to several First Rank cities in the interior, then traced a finger out to Hujian's location on the Eastern edge of the Empire,

"I was just being thorough - trying to track down their supply lines for all the low level Cultivation resources Grass has been gathering to boost their cannon fodder."

He indicated the undetermined blank area of the map marked as 'Wilderness of Fusou' on the other side of the Lotus Empire's Eastern border, "Hujian is a major gathering point for basic, raw Cultivation resources for Cultivators at mid Earth-levels and below," He turned to look at Yue and frowned, "Your Father and brothers have their hands deep in organising and distributing the resources to Grass collaborators," he growled warningly.

Yue paled, but nodded, "We know they - Second House - is involved, but not what was going on - other than it involved money and hiring mercenary Cultivators - as well as stealing from the Clan. I am not my Father or Brother."

"So you say," replied the Elder Enforcer, staring steadily at her, but he arched an eyebrow as Yue stood her ground, "if the Heir trusts you, I will leave it at that," he said eventually, shaking his head and looking away.

Dàilán, Chénli and the Bloodwitch had all stopped their fascinated and stunned examination of the various Essence and Cultivation treasures and locked their attention on the Elder Enforcer.

"If this is the quality of the Cultivation Resources they have been robbing," remarked the Bloodwitch, "their recent boldness makes a lot more sense."

"They were not," contradicted the peddler bluntly, "as far as Grass were concerned - as far as anyone was concerned - that village," his finger tapped on a spot just inside the blank area, "was only providing a small stream of mediocre resources, even in comparison to the other areas where they have been siphoning low level resources from. It was evidently a dead end posting as far as Grass was concerned, hence why they only stationed a bunch of lower levels there to divert whatever resources that were deemed worthwhile - the Grass did not even bother taking over the town, just recruited local thugs for errand running and used basic standover tactics. There was one Sky level cult member there coordinating things behind the curtain, with a core group of higher Earth levels, but he was an administrator, not a battle Cultivator. Then this young Relic Hunter comes into town… they got greedy."

"Not surprising," remarked everyone else, with the exception of Chàng and Biyu who were keeping out of the conversation between high rank cultivators, but listening intently.

"They kicked an iron plate," responded the Elder Enforcer, "Two mistakes… which reminds me, Heir, the Sect is penetrated - which is why I am telling everyone here this now - I do not trust that the information will be used appropriately once I report it there."

"We are aware," said Dàilán firmly, "and you are correct - although recent events would mean we have likely curtailed some of their tendrils, there are likely others that have not been caught despite our best efforts."

The Bloodwitch's face had gone hard, "The Sect Members assigned to the Enclave protecting the Heir are clean; I agree it is a wise course to make sure the information is not lost, once you report back via the regular channels," she paused, "I do not quite see the connection between that and our previous subject, however."

"The first mistake the group controlling the village made was sending a large group of their stronger Cultivators to rob me after I met with the Relic Hunter," responded the peddler grimly.

Chian clicked his tongue, "Obviously, they were aware that you are not a peddler - thus your cover had been compromised - likely by informants within the Knife Sect."

"They miscalculated," the Elder Enforcer responded, "I suppose they thought a 'broken old Knife' - they made some reference to that in their demands I hand over my stock - meant washed up. I killed them all before they had a chance to realise they were outmatched, but they did manage to wound me - quite badly, if I am truthful."

"You look well," observed the Bloodwitch looking her old master over carefully, "and… this was… three days ago?"

"I took some of the pills that Relic Hunter sold me - more out of desperation than anything else, he had said they would not be very effective above Earth rank - but, they worked better than any medicine I have ever tried," he gestured to Chénli, who blinked, "same as the pill I gave you - how are you feeling?"

Dàilán looked at her friend, who smiled happily, "Better than a week of treatment back at the Sect made me feel - like I had not been wounded at all." Yue's eyes widened at that - she immediately grabbed one of the small pots of pills and started examining it closely with Ài - both of them muttering excitedly as they started prodding the pills with various Essence techniques

The Peddler blinked, "Huh. That is a lot more effective than they were for me - guess he was telling the truth."

He shook his head and resumed his tale, "anyway, I went back to the village, hoping to hide out long enough to fully heal. I thought I would have at least until they realised their kill team was not coming back before they started hunting for me - and that they would not immediately think to search for me inside the village. Safest place is closest to danger and all that. Got back to find the place overturned - a great big ruin collapsed into a crater where a house had been and everyone involved in the smuggling ring dead. Wild stories flying around - someone was convinced they had seen a spirit or a god kill everyone remotely associated with the smugglers after calling down thunder from the sky."

Ài looked up from her examination of the pills with Yue, "I wonder if that is where all those rumours about something odd happening in Fusou are coming from?"

Fatty Ji looked thoughtful and stroked his chin, "there was a lot of gossip around that the other day," he looked at the peddler, "is it possible some traders got back to Hujian before you?"

"I do not exactly travel quickly in this cover," answered the Elder Enforcer, "and gossip is always the fastest moving object - it is possible - but all the traders had already left before this occurred, so I am not sure how they would have known."

"I take it you investigated what happened?" asked the young Sect Heir.

"A little. The whole village was uneasy - they were afraid that the smuggler's gang would make reprisals - so they were not exactly encouraging strangers to stay. I did win a few points by identifying some of the bodies as Grass Cult members, advising the villagers to hide the bodies and keep quiet," the older man spread his hands helplessly, "it helped that the other peddlers and small merchants from out of town had left several shi before all this occured."

"You identified them as Grass?" questioned the Bloodwitch intently.

"Most of them had some version of that idiotic tattoo on them, even the common thugs," reported the trader with satisfaction, "add to that the ones I dealt with - as far as I could tell Grass' entire network in that area is gone and they do not know about it."

"What? Surely they had message Formations or regular runners?" pointed out the younger looking Senior Enforcer.

"There was a crater about a yǐn across where the Head Cultist had been," answered the Elder Enforcer, "I overheard some villagers talking about finding Cultivation treasures and taels of gold, silver and bronze in the wreckage - some of it recognisable as items extorted from villagers previously. Plus records apparently..."

He rubbed his head, his mannerisms suddenly unsure, "I did manage to talk the Village Head a bit and managed a peak at the mess in return for my information from my experiences as an old Jianghu wanderer; although I could not convince them to let me go into the ruin. Given how agitated everyone was I did not want to risk blowing my cover or worse - but there were formations spreading out from where the house used to be - they were all," he looked uneasy, "drained. No sign of flashback from whatever technique was used, which normally happens when something big enough to blow large holes into the ground interacts with existing Formations - they had no sign of having Essence in them at all."

"That means they would have had to have all the Essence removed from them - before - whatever happened," pointed out Míng in fascination, "according to everything I have learnt - draining a Formation like that is not actually possible, without setting it off - and I have never heard of anything that can render a Formation inert - there is always some Essence left."

"You and me both, Young Lady," agreed the older man, "but those formation lines may as well have been scribbled into the dirt by an infant. And from everything I gathered, whatever happened, happened fast - as in, one moment, everyone was celebrating a relatively successful Market Day, the next there is some sort of mist that appears - and a dozen or so people collapsed and die at the same time as that house goes up in a flash bright enough to make the village think an angry god had struck."

He sighed and rested his palms on the bench, "I stayed there a couple of shi, tending my wounds and gathering information. No one from Grass showed up and as far as I can tell, their message formations went down before whatever happened, happened. I did not see anyone on my way back to Hujian either and there is only one safe route out to that village - unless you want to risk the Essence Beasts in the wilderness."

"So Grass offended someone - or something they should not have - is that your assessment?" asked Dàilán intently.

"Yes, Heir," answered the peddler, "I do not know what - but the village loremaster was convinced he had seen something headed towards one of the local hills behind the village after the explosion. He kept insisting that the village had to go and appease the local mountain god, saying the mountain had been woken up - some of the older villagers were repeating tales of strange lights and noises from the hills behind the village."

He shook his head, "I have been traveling for many years, Heir and these small villages always have the usual local backwoods stories about mysterious spirits, ancient ruins and Essence Beasts. If it is true, then there is usually history or a long standing pattern to support it - but most times it is just stories."

"This is the sort of thing a Relic Hunter might notice and investigate in the hopes of finding something, though," Dàilán pointed out as she indicated the Essence Treasures laid out on the bench, "it looks like he found something."

The older man hesitated, "I met that Relic Hunter this time - I traded these things - his best harvests - on the way into the village. He was… strange."

"Most Relic Hunters usually are," remaked Fatty Ji, "hermits, paranoid…"

The peddler shook his head, "Not like that… he looked like someone out of a song or one of those improbable stories about Cultivators the mortals love so much - somewhat like yourself, My Lady," he bowed apologetically towards Dàilán, "but he seemed young… he would have fit well with this group. And he felt… dangerous. He was cagey about where he got these items from and I did not feel it was wise to press him."

"You think Grass sent the rest of their Cultivators after him," surmised Dàilán, "and he retaliated."

"It seems more likely than a spirit or a mountain god - though he might be a high-level Essence Beast," confirmed the Elder Enforcer, "like I said, those Cultists would not have been smart enough to recognise the danger - low leveled thugs, even the Cultivators."

Chian tapped a finger on the bench, "A High-leveled Essence Beast able to transform into human form - it might fit. If it advanced high enough recently to come out of the hills in disguise, it might have treasures. And it would likely not want threats in the area it considered its domain - it would have responded to any attack with all the force it could manage."

"It does not quite fit, but it is possible," admitted the peddler, "mind you - he was quite polite and friendly to me - the village was buzzing about the young, handsome Relic Hunter Cultivator that bought something from every stall. Apparently half the reason for the party that night was the sudden influx of wealth he brought in."

"Very exciting," interjected Yue, "but right now, we should bargain…"

Dàilán laughed, her eyes bright with excitement "OK Yue, I suppose we have kept you from shopping long enough - do you have anything else to report, Enforcer?"

The older man smiled, "You have the outlines, Heir. I can pass copies of the details on to Enclave Head here and you can examine them at your leisure."

Dàilán bowed respectfully to the peddler, who stepped back, bowing in return. "Ok everyone, have at it!" she declared and dodged out of the way as everyone started discussing the Essence items on sale and what they were willing to pay for them.

Moving beside the peddler who was grinning as he watched the others in the group argue over his wares, she inquired quietly, "Any chance I could get a copy of that map of yours, old man?"

He snorted, "Sure - thinking of going looking for the mountain spirit, your ladyship?"

"I have always wanted to be a Relic Hunter," Dàilán laughed, "this seems like a good chance - maybe even an ally to gain."

"Thinking like a Sect Head there, Heir," said the Elder Enforcer approvingly, "Ten Essence Stones for the map."

"Seriously…?!"