6.5 - Seeking Legends

After spending the rest of the day in cultivation, He Yu joined the others for their evening meal. While all five of them were far beyond the point of needing to eat or sleep with any regularity, sustaining themselves almost wholly with qi, the meals served in the royal palace were a feast of cultivation resources. They were a large part of why they had all advanced so quickly through the Soul Refining stage.

He Yu and the others sat around a table in a private dining room in the guest wing of the palace. Steaming bowls of rice and noodles, rich with fortifying qi, sat next to platters of expertly prepared spirit herbs grown in the royal gardens. Meat taken from advanced awakened beasts and fortified with yet more qi rounded out the meal. It was the same bounty they’d been eating for years, each morsel an elixir that would have cost years’ worth of work and savings back at the Shrouded Peaks Sect. And all of it prepared specially for them, with the perfect blend of aspects to fortify their individual cultivation.

The meal was but one advantage Tan Zihao’s favor had provided. The royal alchemists provided them with further elixirs daily. These, too, were tailored to each of their specific needs. Cultivation chambers had their scripts reworked by Tan Zihao’s formation experts, and Tan Zihao himself frequently took time from his duties to personally offer pointers and aid in their training.

Sometimes He Yu wondered what Zhang Lifen would think of all this. Long ago, she’d admonished him not to become a false dragon, fueling his advancement with pills and shortcuts. Somehow he didn’t think she’d object to any of this. True, he’d been taking pills daily to aid his cultivation. But by now, just replenishing his cultivation base from a day of training required monstrous amounts of qi. Without access to such resources, none of them would make any progress at all.

Besides, all five of them had long since passed the point where they could simply brute force their way through the realms of cultivation. Any advancement they made now was clawed from insights, self-reflection, and an ever greater alignment to their Way. The truth of the Eternal Dao was the key to further advancement, and it could never be drawn from elixirs alone.

As they sat around the table enjoying tea brewed from yet more medicinal herbs and idly chatting, He Yu finally broached the subject of venturing north.

“So you intend to head off into the steppe in search of, what, a story?” Yan Shirong asked once He Yu had finished sharing his conversation with Tan Zihao.

The others had remained quiet while he spoke, letting the sounds of a guzheng wash over their private dining room. The instrument itself was scripted and a minor treasure, playing with no a human musician. Although in the hands of one with even passing skill, it could produce music fit for an emperor. For tonight, it merely added to the warm ambiance of their meal, notes filling the air in the soft glow of the oil lamps.

“I know how it sounds,” He Yu said. “But it fits.”

“Fits?” Li Heng asked. “Fits what, exactly? I’m not saying I disagree, at least not fully. But we both know how even now you get caught up in the fancies of chasing legends.”

“That’s sort of the whole point, though,” he said. “My Way is, in part, to seek such legends. Chasing after a story barely known, in search of treasure that may not even be real? I think that might be part of the point.”

“While I can’t say I agree with He Yu, I don’t think my father would have mentioned anything if he hadn’t believed it would help.”

His own biases aside, He Yu was inclined to agree with Tan Xiaoling. King Tan had spent considerable time with each of them, and much of that time had been helping them adhere ever closer to their Way, and form greater connections with the Dao. It was, after all, a necessary step in reaching the Divine Body Attainment stage. Each of them would need to connect with their Dao in order to push through that bottleneck, so they could finally achieve their Daoist Mind when they reached the Eighth Realm.

Silence hung over the group. The larger question would need to be addressed, eventually. So He Yu decided to get it over with. “This doesn’t mean I’m giving up on restoring the empire. Or on defeating Jin Xifeng.”

“I hadn’t thought you would,” Yan Shirong said. “All things considered, though, I wouldn’t be opposed to it. We could simply stay here. I don’t think Tan Zihao would mind. It isn’t as if we’re leeching off him.”

He wasn’t wrong. Although they were formally guests of the palace, each of them had been providing various services either to Tan Zihao himself, or to the broader kingdom. He Yu wasn’t the only one venturing out into the mountains—Li Heng and Tan Xiaoling were both nearly as active as he was in that respect. Tan Xiaoling needed to rebuild her reputation with the people, and fighting off incursions of bandits and beasts was just as much a part of her Way as it was He Yu’s. Li Heng’s excursions helped him better define his relationship with the balance he needed to strike in things, this time between duty and desire. He Yu didn’t ask after that, as he knew it had to something to do with his relationship to Tan Xiaoling, which was now fully public and with the full approval of her father.

Yan Shirong had set up, and currently oversaw, a fledgling version of the Ministry of Information on Tan Zihao’s behalf. He’d also taken charge of the royal archives, both as a means to access even more knowledge, and to “whip the scholars into shape,” as he’d put it. When Chen Fei wasn’t cultivating or sparring, she aided Tan Zihao’s formation experts. She now rivaled even the Jade Kingdom’s best in her mastery of formations.

They very much could stay, should they want. Tan Zihao would let them, and anyone could see that. A group of young and talented experts of the Soul Refining stage would be a powerful asset to the Jade Kingdom. Especially as they were close friends with Tan Xiaoling, and openly working for the kingdom’s benefit. Any further breakthroughs they made in their cultivation would only increase their worth to the kingdom.

But He Yu, at the very least, couldn’t. As he came to a greater understanding of his Dao, he’d also accepted that a clash between himself and Jin Xifeng was inevitable. She was very much the sort of cultivator who his own nature would throw him into conflict with eventually, even if she hadn’t destroyed the sect he’d once belonged to. That he needed to avenge the deaths of his sect siblings and elders—and perhaps his own mentor—was just another reason he couldn’t abandon that goal.

“I’m going, regardless,” He Yu announced. “Maybe it’s a stupid thing to do. I’ve never been one for taking the smart path, or the easy one. I spent most of the day meditating on this, and I think that even if this legend turns out to be merely a myth, the searching will provide insights to my Way. This is what I need to push through my bottleneck. Anyone who wants to come is welcome to join me.”

That was the real reason for the conversation. He’d wanted to ask the others to come. He wanted them to come. He wasn’t surprised when, one by one, they refused.

“I should stay,” Tan Xiaoling said. “As much as I think you’re making the correct choice, my advancement lies here. If anyone can help me advance my mastery of the Golden Tiger Cultivation Law, it’s my father.”

It made perfect sense, and He Yu didn’t blame her for it.

“Tan Zihao’s archives need management,” Yan Shirong said. “Although there’d be secrets aplenty wherever you’re going, there’s just as many buried within the Jade Mountains.”

“I’d like to stay with Tan Xiaoling, if that’s just the same.” Li Heng took a long time to speak. Longer than He Yu had expected, and even as he announced his decision, he still looked conflicted.

At long last, Chen Fei—who’d been quiet and pensively glancing to the northeast as though she could see through the walls—spoke up. “I’ll come.”

He Yu’s brows creased slightly at the way she spoke. She sounded like she did back when they’d first met. Voice small, almost timid. Uncertain. Whatever had been hanging over her spirit since they’d first met had gotten to the point she could no longer ignore it. And it seemed that she’d need to go north to address it.

Reaching across the table, he gripped her hand. “I’d be glad to have you.”

She flashed him a smile and a nod.

Tan Xiaoling’s golden eyes flicked between the two of them. “Whenever you decide to head out, make sure you’re well prepared. The Mountains of Heaven beyond the White Desert bar your way to the great steppe. They’re even more untamed and dangerous than the Jade Mountains. As for the steppe beyond, I couldn’t tell you what to expect there.” With that, she got up to leave, pulling Li Heng after her.

Yan Shirong took the hint and followed.

Once they were alone in the, He Yu turned to Chen Fei. “Whenever you’re ready, I’m here.” It was something they’d circled around a number of times before. Whatever weighed on her spirit, she knew she could talk to him.

He had a fairly good idea of what it was, though. Whether it had simply been a vision, or something more real, he’d been with her in Patriarch Sun Lei’s secret realm. He’d seen her trial, and her reaction to it. He’d seen the helplessness as she watched those she’d struggled to save die, one by one. Whatever failure, she’d never fully faced up to lay somewhere out there to the north.

“It’ll have to come sooner or later,” she murmured.

They sat together in silence for a time. Eventually, they turned to the unavoidable task of logistics. Both of them were laden down with treasures they once couldn’t have dreamed of, but even that wouldn’t be enough for an extended journey far away from support. They set about to taking inventory of the things they had, and all the things they yet needed.

Spirit stones and medicinal pills were both high on their list. Neither of them had been able to get any real use out of low-grade stones for a long time now, and even mid-grade stones were barely enough for regular cultivation. They each had a fair stockpile of high-grade stones, mostly gathered in anticipation of their eventual advancement to the Seventh Realm. After trading in some lesser treasures, they more than doubled their supply. They also purchased a stock of medicines, ensuring they could quickly recover during a fight.

He Yu had long since swapped out his old storage ring for a much larger one. He’d also gathered a fairly extensive wardrobe now, at least by his standards. Half a dozen sets of robes sat in his storage treasure, each of them heavily scripted with formations that both provided protection, and eased the use of his techniques. Out of fondness, he’d poured a tremendous amount of resources into having his old robe turned into an even greater treasure than when he’d first received it from Yongnian.

His guandao, heavy and laden with significance from his father and Chen Fei both, was still in good shape. The formation work had already been of good quality, and Chen Fei had only made it better as she’d advanced her mastery. Although it would be at least another hundred years before it would begin developing its own spirit, the significance he’d imbued into the weapon as he continued to use it was unmistakable. It now carried its own spiritual weight into the world, warping the very air when he drew it in battle. Channeling his techniques through the weapon had only gotten easier, and he’d even heard that people in the outer villages spoke of it without mentioning him. It was truly growing into a weapon fit for legend.

Aside from her own stockpile of techniques, Chen Fei had gathered her own set of treasures. Perhaps most notably was the bearskin mantle she wore draped over her shoulders. She’d added a bronze plate to the front that covered most of her chest, and she’d added layers of advanced formation scripts to both the mantle and the bronze shield. The bracers she’d been gifted by Li Renshu had likewise served her well, especially now that they were fully aligned with her arts.

Much like He Yu, stories of an expert dressed in the skin of a great spirit bear who could reduce a mountain to rubble with a single punch spread through the valleys of the Jade Mountains. Although Chen Fei was more than a little embarrassed at the attention, she’d also more than earned it. Hopefully, whatever she needed to face in the north would help her accept the praise she fully deserved.

With their preparations complete, they bid the others goodbye in the early morning several days later. This was markedly different from the last time they’d parted ways. He Yu and Chen Fei were coming back—everyone was certain of that.

Li Heng gripped He Yu’s arm before parting. “Be well,” he said, “and whatever you find, may it be everything you imagine.”

Finally, He Yu turned north. “Ready?” he asked.

Next to him, Chen Fei stood atop a flying treasure. A large disc of bronze, like a gong, a full arm span across. She nodded, giving him one of her brilliant smiles.

Together, they rose into the air and set off into legend.