by Tao Wong
If he was to spend New Year’s Eve with his parents, he would have to leave soon. Wu Ying knew Yu Kun was eager to depart, for the ex-wandering cultivator had found fewer opportunities for brilliance and contribution points than he had expected on this trip. Martial cultivators were of little use in this rather peaceable region with its extensive farmland and well-guarded surroundings.
As for Tou He… might as well ask him.
So Wu Ying did, when he arrived at their restaurant for dinner.
“I should be ready to begin soon,” Tou He said, smiling.
Wu Ying breathed in deeply, noticing the thrum of energy his friend gave off. Another breakthrough.
Already.
“Good. Just tell me when,” Wu Ying said.
“If it is convenient…” Tou He broke off, waving down Yu Kun, who trundled over and sat down, propping a foot up on the seat.
“You two look serious. Something wrong?” Yu Kun asked.
“No. We were speaking of my next breakthrough.” Tou He eyed the man then continued. “It would be good to have you both there. The ritual requires external chi to stabilize, and if something goes wrong…”
“More chi to stabilize it?” Yu Kun said.
The group chuckled as Tou He nodded. Part of the use of formations—especially when it came to cultivation—was to help stabilize and provide aspected chi for an individual to use. In this case, with Tou He breaking through to his second dantian, the formation would help isolate him from external chi as well.
Many formations were overly convoluted, not because their creators were prone to complexity but to create multiple backups when matters went awry. In that sense, having individuals willing to donate additional chi to a formation was not uncommon.
“Just tell us when,” Wu Ying said.
His friend smiled before waving for the laoban[10], making sure to order a surplus of food. Wu Ying’s eyebrows raised a little as he listened to the litany of dishes that would arrive—roast duck, a fried and a roasted pair of chickens, three different kinds of pork dishes, and a single mixed vegetable platter—before Tou He was satisfied.
Catching sight of his friend’s incredulous looks, the ex-monk smirked. “My treat. If things go badly, I want to make sure I have a good meal.”
“Bad luck to name misfortune beforehand,” Yu Kun said.
“Amitabha. If what is to happen happens, it will be so,” Tou He replied.
“Pretty sure that’s not the way it’s meant to go…” Wu Ying said.
“Perhaps I have been corrupted by your ideals.”
Wu Ying rolled his eyes before serving the others more tea. The middle way[11] was similar in some ways to the pursuit of the Dao, which was why both religions existed so well together. It was just that where the pursuit of the Dao required one to understand and become one with an unknowable, all-encompassing, natural force, the middle way’s path focused on a balance between materialism and spiritualism.
In truth, the middle way seemed to require a greater degree of conformity to specific behaviors and a greater degree of empathic kindness than most could be expected to showcase. It was this rigid belief system and shirking of materialistic comforts that had led to Tou He’s initial expulsion, but which also dominated his existing morality.
For himself, Wu Ying knew, the middle way was not to be. He was but a dabbler, picking up hints of it from his friend. Tou He was more likely to find a way to integrate the path of the Dao and the middle way, though how successful he would be, or how much he desired immortality, Wu Ying still did not know. Sometimes, some conversations were just hard.
“Wu Ying?” Tou He called, making Wu Ying shake his head.
Wu Ying could question his friend another time, if he was brave enough. Now, there was food to eat.
Picking up his chopsticks, Wu Ying dove into the food. As Tou He had said, better to face what was to come with a full stomach and no regrets. Whatever happened tomorrow would happen.
***
Power surged through the formation runes, subsided, then surged again as Tou He sat in the middle of the cultivation room. The Energy Storage cultivation room had been rented out just for this purpose, with numerous pre-drawn chi-collecting arrays and a newly drawn stabilization array on the smooth, grey stone floor. The ex-monk was silent, cross-legged, and cultivating as energy poured into the room, bolstering his cultivation speed.
Wu Ying and Yu Kun sat on opposite sides of the array, hands placed on the stabilization array but not feeding any chi as yet. Its passive ability to draw in environmental chi was more than sufficient at the moment.
All they could do was watch their friend. Watch as his placid features twisted on occasion as the chi within his body battered at the blockage in the center of his chest. Energy, moving in pre-determined patterns, would gain elemental aspects to strike the middle dantian, drawing grimaces of pain as it wore away at the corruption and blockages.
Occasional flashes of pain crossed Tou He’s face as a particularly hard and stubborn section refused to give way. As his cultivation continued, Wu Ying sensed energy escaping his friend’s body, the amount held within him lowering with each circulation.
The loss in energy would often set back cultivation for months, sometimes even years. If Tou He was unable to break through this time, he would have to cultivate for weeks, if not months, before he attempted to break through again.
It was also why they had waited until Tou He had broken through all eight of his Energy Storage meridians. The fact that his friend was so far ahead of Wu Ying now was frustrating, even if he was unwilling to admit that thought publicly.
And truly, jealousy was foolish. For Tou He had not once, but twice burnt his lifeblood, shortening his own existence to find the energy to keep fighting. His speed at cultivation was because he had a small lower dantian that allowed him to quickly fill it.
Now, he would have twice the amount of energy, if he succeeded. Adding a new problem of having to fill too great a well.
Still, if Tou He did not succeed, he might inadvertently solidify the blockages during this attempt. If he did not succeed now, he might not at all, leading to a dead-end on his cultivation path.
Biting his lip, Wu Ying watched sweat roll down his friend’s bare head, a small and growing pool of liquid forming around his body. Wisps of steam swirled around his body as the fire aspect of Tou He’s chi interacted with the pooled sweat, boiling it off. The smell of great exertion filled the room, clinging to their every breath as the ambient temperature rose, increasingly making the room inhospitable.
A grunt. A shudder.
Tou He rocked backward a little then pitched forward, an involuntary cough erupting from his body. It twisted and disrupted the flow of his chi, and a blackish-red substance spilled from his lips. It spattered onto the ground, boiling and hardening before the cultivator managed to get his body under control once more.
Then another breath, another circulation.
Another attempt at his middle dantian.
Another gasped shudder, a twist in the formation flows. Energy that was being fed in slowly sped up, the vortex of heated air and sweat twisting and rising faster. Chi from the surroundings rushed into the formation in ever greater quantities. Runes and formation lines glowed.
Wu Ying sensed the drop in ambient chi. Meeting Yu Kun’s gaze, the pair nodded and fed chi into the formation. Their energy reinforced the glowing lines, kept the energy that Tou He was drawing to him consistent. The formation took care to twist the chi they infused, ensuring it was stripped to its barest components.
Time passed as Wu Ying and Yu Kun fed an ever-increasing amount of energy into the formation. Tou He used it to empower his body, attacking his dantian in increasing fervor and desperation. The blockages opened then closed, hardening, refusing to clear properly. On occasion, the ex-monk expelled impurities from his lips, staining the floor and his robes. The smell of the burning contaminants stung Wu Ying’s nose, almost making him retch with its foul
odors.
Almost.
Thought faded as time passed, the constant demand of the formation becoming Wu Ying’s whole world. Eventually, Wu Ying found his body, already weakened and injured, unable to hold on. He pried his eyes open, only to realize his friend had stopped struggling.
Tou He sat in the center of the circle, dark blood dripping from his lips, his face serene. The energy he drew into him was steadier, no longer a wild rush but a powerful, hungry suction. Realizing that whatever tribulation his friend had faced was over, Wu Ying stopped the flow of his chi. He kept his eyes open only long enough to see Yu Kun do the same from the opposite end.
And then, Wu Ying collapsed over sideways, empty and bereft of energy.
Chapter 20
A hand pressed onto Wu Ying’s wrist, reading his pulse. The cultivator sat, waiting for the physician to finish his evaluation. In his other hand, the physician wrote his evaluation on a scroll, muttering to himself as he listened to Wu Ying’s body. Eventually, fingers raised and Wu Ying withdrew his hand, clenching his teeth around the shot of pain his shoulder created as he moved.
“You used nearly seven-tenths of your stored chi, emptying out your dantian. Worse, you utilized your body’s wind chi, the very same wind chi you have been cultivating and attempting to make your own,” the physician, Zhang Zhong Jing, said. “From what I understand of your other physician’s notes, your progress was hard won.”
Wu Ying nodded, wondering at the point of the long-winded rebuke.
“And then you set yourself back.” The physician rolled his eyes. “Did you not think that utilizing a chi-gathering array like that could be dangerous for you?”
“I did, honored physician. But my friend needed help,” Wu Ying said.
“Of course. Brotherhood and loyalty. That’s what they all teach you, isn’t it?” Zhong Jing growled. “What is it with all you cultivators? More focused on loyalty and honor than good sense.” Wu Ying opened his mouth to object, only for the man to override him, his full mustache quivering as he continued, the wisps of hair from his beard trembling. “You could have asked others to join you. Added more people at the least, if not have them do it all. Just work a little harder, get more contribution points, and pay them. Or, you know, make friends! But no. You had to do it yourself. Because of honor. Yes?”
Wu Ying winced at the rather acerbic comments, knowing the physician was right. They had been a little focused, not considering that perhaps they should have gotten external help. In fact, the Double Soul, Double Body Sect probably had provisions for hiring aid.
“My apologies, senior physician.” It was funny to Wu Ying how even if the physician was not a true cultivator, he could feel rather intimidated by the man. “But my prognosis?”
“Poor.” Zhong Jing finished writing and handed Wu Ying the document. “You have maybe another year to live. Perhaps.”
Wu Ying blinked. He knew he had been feeling worse since Tou He’s breakthrough, but he hadn’t been feeling that much worse. Sure, the migraines had returned, as had the aches in his body and his piss had gained a rather pinkish color at times… but it wasn’t that bad!
“Then again, it might be said that it was good you helped him too.”
“What? Why?”
“What you were doing, walling off the impurities?” Zhong Jing said as Wu Ying nodded. “It was concentrating the impurities, making them stronger. If you had not broken down the walls, it would have eventually overridden your attempts at suppressing it and killed you. Most likely without any warning.”
Wu Ying blinked in surprise.
“Yes. Lucky. Then again, you cultivators have all the luck.” Zhong Jing stroked his beard, his lined face growing darker for a second before brightening a little. “Except when you don’t.” Wu Ying stared at the too-happy physician a little worriedly, but the man continued on blithely. “Now, I can’t fix your problems. I’m no cultivator. Whatever solution you find, it’ll have to be in your cultivation manuals…”
Wu Ying nodded.
“But I can help make your time easier. Maybe let you finish any last-minute vendettas you might have.”
“Vendettas?”
“Revenge to be taken? Enemies to be slain? Honor to be restored?”
“Uhhh…” Wu Ying considered the dark sect. While it was an enemy, it was not the kind that Zhong Jing was talking about. Not some blood-driven feud that had to be ended at all cost. He also did not even know where to look if he was so inclined.
“Really? So you risk your life for nothing?” Zhong Jing rolled his eyes. “Cultivating for the sake of cultivating?”
Wu Ying shrugged.
“Of course. Immortality is its own prize, eh?” A disdainful sniff. “Whatever. Do you want it?”
“Want what?”
“My help.”
“Doing what, honored physician?” Wu Ying said, trying not to sound too grumpy.
“Completing your goals.”
Wu Ying took a deep breath, realizing they were going in circles. “But what is the treatment?”
“No treatment. I told you already, you’re going to die and there’s nothing I can do. I can help you through the next few months by suppressing the symptoms. You’ll be able to do whatever you want without pain. At least for a few months.”
“And the cost?” Because there was always a cost. Unlike the early morning calls from tradesmen trying to acquire their first customer of the day[12], there was always a cost.
“It’ll reduce how long you live. And when the pain comes back, it’ll come back with such strength that you might not be able to manage it. If you let your body grow accustomed in time, you might be able to be functional longer,” Zhong Jing clarified.
Staring at the open window, Wu Ying pondered his options. He thought of being able to move, cultivate, and potentially research a solution without pain. Or a year of life racked with pain, his body failing every step of the way. Pain, yet with more time, more chances to understand the manual, to find a true solution.
“Do you need time to consider?” Zhong Jing asked.
Wu Ying closed his eyes, then opened them. He shook his head and informed the physician of his decision.
And sealed his fate.
***
“You're looking better,” Tou He said to his friend later that day, over dinner.
Wu Ying offered a smile. Having spent most of the day working in the library, he had spotted Wan Yan speaking to that very same library attendant again. He guessed that she had preferences in attendants, just as he did. In the end, he had spent the day reading, trying to catch up on what he had missed after falling ill and unconscious for the last few days. Not that anything he found had brought him any closer to enlightenment or understanding his manual.
“So is that physician that much better?” Yu Kun asked.
“I wouldn’t say better. Though he does have some talent, especially for one who hasn’t progressed far in his cultivation,” Wu Ying replied, placing a duck drumstick on his plate. “I think he’s just more used to strange problems.”
“And he was able to help?” Tou He’s eyes bore into Wu Ying’s, clearly sensing something off.
Wu Ying returned his friend’s gaze, a part of him happy to note that his friend seemed stronger. The fluctuations in Tou He’s aura were more significant but stronger. Even so, the intensity was lower, as his total energy level was lower. It would be many months before his friend managed to refill his chi surplus. More than that, Tou He would have to cleanse his meridians and body properly, since there were likely traces of the blockages spread through his body. But when he was done, he would stand at the very peak of Energy Storage.
“He did. I feel a lot better,” Wu Ying assured his friends.
“Good. I would feel bad if my actions caused you harm.”
“Nothing like that. Nothing like that at all,” Wu Ying smiled, lying through his teeth. He picked up a stalk of bok choy, laying it on his friend’s plate and getting a glare back. �
�Now, let’s talk about something a little more interesting.”
The pair rolled their eyes but followed his lead, turning the conversation to other matters. After all, with Wu Ying having found his cultivation manuals and Tou He finally finished with his breakthrough, they only had to wait for the ex-monk to stabilize his cultivation and ensure there were no unexpected complications. Then they could return.
At least, as far as the other two knew. As for his own issues, Wu Ying kept silent on the matter. There was nothing they could do to help after all.
Later that evening, Wu Ying was seated cross-legged on the floor in his room. He sat on a mat before the low writing table, his writing implements laid out. Before him, a simple message scroll, one that he had been attempting to fill for the last half hour.
It stood empty but for the start.
Dear Father & Mother;
What could he say, what should he say, when writing a letter discussing his imminent departure from the mortal plane? They had sent him off expecting him to survive them by many years. As a cultivator, as a member of a prestigious sect, he should have been safe, cultivating. Slowly growing stronger, slowly gaining enlightenment. Not rushing from crisis to crisis, throwing himself into dangerous adventures. And now, slowly dying as his very body altered from the one they had given him.
What was he to say to them? How did he explain his failure? How did you ask someone to go on, knowing that you would injure them in a way no weapon could? No parent should witness the death of their child. No child should have to tell their parent they are about to die.
Yet, life was unjust. It ground on without care about justice or mercy, about fairness or feelings. You could accept it as it came, or you could rail against it and attempt to overthrow your destiny. In the end, it still ground on.
Wu Ying’s hand rose and fell, each sentence, each word seeming unsuitable. He even stained the paper with a drop of ink, so often did he dip his brush and bring it close before aborting. Wu Ying stood, walking in a circle around the table before sitting and trying again. He picked up his brush and hesitated.