by Tao Wong
Chapter 11
The remainder of the assignment passed without incident. Concerned that his uprooted plants would not survive long, Wu Ying elected to skip the celebration and take off for the sect directly, leaving Tou He to collect the remainder of their belongings and report on the successful completion of the mission. In the light of the morning sun, Wu Ying ran with a wide open, li-eating gait that he could keep up for hours on end. In fact, with the addition of his cultivation, Wu Ying doubted he would need to stop for more than a meal or two during the day.
Days later, Wu Ying stumbled to a stop right in front of the paifang that marked the border of the sect grounds. Elder Lu, in his thin robe, was seated in his usual place, sprawled out with his pipe and smoking away. At his cultivation level, Wu Ying was not surprised the Elder did not feel the cold.
“Elder Lu. Long Wu Ying returning from his assignment,” Wu Ying said as he offered the Elder his permission token.
“Where is the monk?” Xi Qi said as he took the token and pushed a touch of his chi into the token to acknowledge Wu Ying’s return to the sect.
“Coming after. He went to inform the village head. I wanted to bring these back first,” Wu Ying said, gesturing at the makeshift tray where the plants swayed.
“Go in then. You know that you cannot mark the assignment complete without the village elder’s token, yes?” Xi Qi said.
“Yes, Elder.” Wu Ying said, swaying on his feet.
Due to the short winter days, Wu Ying had made the choice to run through the night, using a small lantern to light the way. Since the roads leading between settlements were well maintained, running through the night was not a big concern for Wu Ying—other than potentially attracting a demon beast. Using his previous experience as a guide, Wu Ying had allowed his aura to leak while he ran, warning off any beast that wanted to challenge him. It was a calculated risk, since the leaked chi might attract stronger predators. But it was a risk that had paid off, with Wu Ying arriving unmolested.
“Then go.”
Wu Ying took off once more, at a slower pace, up the mountain. His destination was the pill refiner’s apothecary hall, since that was where he could sell his items. Briefly, Wu Ying considered finding Liu Tsong to verify what he carried but discarded the idea. It was unlikely he would be cheated if he sold the plants directly to the sect itself.
Unlike the line that sold products to sect members, the line for those selling herbs, fungi, and other crafting materials to the sect was nearly non-existent. When Wu Ying made his way to the desk, the bored attendant that manned the table was hiding a yawn. He sat up in surprise as Wu Ying placed the still-living plants on his desk.
“Long Wu Ying. Looking to sell to the sect,” Wu Ying announced while presenting his sect token.
“Interesting. You’re not one of Elder Li’s people, are you?” the attendant said, placing a finger in the soil of one plant before he moved to inspect the remainder of the plants. “Night Blossom. Four alive in poor condition. One in very poor condition.”
Wu Ying winced at the man’s blunt assessment of the plants. Watered or not, cared for as best he could or not, the plants had begun to wither after he had taken them out of the graveyard. It was the main reason why Wu Ying had decided to run through the nights.
“Do you want this in contribution points or taels?” the attendant asked.
“Can I get a combination?”
“Half-and-half is the maximum. Unless you want something less?”
“Half is fine,” Wu Ying said.
The attendant turned away, waving down one of the gophers, who took the plants while the attendant opened his book and jotted down the details of the sale. Once he was done, he tapped Wu Ying’s seal on his jade tablet, transferring the contribution points. Then he counted out four tael and three hundred coins before pushing it all over to Wu Ying, whose eyes widened in surprise.
“Four tael?” Wu Ying squeaked.
“Yes. And four hundred sixty contribution points.”
“That much?” Wu Ying said. The mission they had completed was worth slightly over eight hundred contribution points, but the total had to be split between the pair. On the other hand, an inner sect member was required to contribute at least two hundred contribution points a month.
“Yes. Live plants are always worth more,” the attendant said. “Well. Almost always. Properly dried Spotted Ear Moon fungus sells for three times the fresh ones. And Green Cow Eared blossoms are only taken dried. Too poisonous to transfer otherwise. And… well, you can study the rest.”
Wu Ying flashed the attendant a grateful smile as he finished putting away the coin. He would have to split the profits with Tou He when he arrived, but this amount would be a decent amount of savings for additional equipment. Right now, outside of his sword, Wu Ying lacked any real equipment. Admittedly, that was due to his rising standards—he no longer wanted mortal equipment but cultivator equipment. Equipment that would either aid his cultivation or, at the least, last him while he was in the Energy Storage stage.
Almost whistling as he left, Wu Ying skipped out of the building, his earlier exhaustion held at bay by the unexpected bounty. Rather than waiting for his exhaustion to catch him, Wu Ying headed directly for his residence.
***
“Long Wu Ying.”
Wu Ying adjusted his robes, wincing as he bowed and greeted his unexpected visitor. The Elder had just turned up, without an invitation or calling card, later the day Wu Ying had returned. The sole thing keeping Wu Ying awake was the rush of adrenaline that had shot through his body when Ah Yee mentioned an Elder had come visiting.
“Elder.” Wu Ying desperately wished he could remember her name, but the older woman with the cane had only introduced herself once. And his sleep-addled brain refused to function.
The old woman’s eyes crinkled, perhaps realizing that Wu Ying could not recall her name. Ah Yee stepped forward, refilling the Elder’s tea and turning her head so that she could meet Wu Ying’s eyes. As she did so, she mouthed the Elder’s name.
Memory triggered, Wu Ying quickly added. “Elder Li. May I know what brings you to visit me?”
Shooting a suspicious glance at Ah Yee, the Elder leaned back in the hard-backed visiting chair. “I was informed you brought back four sets of Night Blossoms. Still alive.”
“Yes, Elder.”
“Poorly taken care of. But still alive,” Elder Li said, tapping her cane. “Did you know you could have sold the location information instead?”
“I did not know that,” Wu Ying said. “I’m sorry, Elder. I will stop bringing back the plants.”
“Did I tell you to stop?” Elder Li said waspishly, smacking the top of Wu Ying’s bent head with her cane. He winced but did not move to rub his head. “You brought back four Night Blossoms alive. That’s better than some of my recent recruits.”
“Thank you, Elder.”
“They were in poor condition, mind you. Take us at least a month to care for them. Where did you learn to care for plants?”
“I was a rice farmer before, Elder. I also helped my mother with the family vegetable garden.”
“A farmer with a small gift, it seems,” Elder Li said, tapping her cane on the ground. She stared at Wu Ying before she pushed herself to her feet with the help of the cane. “Very well. Make your way to my residence tomorrow.”
“Elder?”
Rather than answer, Elder Li walked out of the house, swinging her cane in what Wu Ying could almost describe as a jaunty manner. When he turned to Ah Yee, who had begun to pack up the tea and snacks laid out for the Elder, Wu Ying only received a shrug.
“Would it hurt them to actually answer questions sometimes?” Wu Ying said with a sigh. At least he was not expected in class tomorrow.
***
To Wu Ying’s surprise, Elder Li’s residence was not above the inner sect members’ residences but situated among them. The residence itself was quite small, at least a quarter of the size of Elder Hsu’s
and Elder Cheng’s residences. What it had that the other Elders did not was an extremely large greenhouse next to it, along with garden plots situated around the residence. The total grounds of the residence itself, when these garden plots and the greenhouse were taken into account, was at least thrice the size of the other Elders’.
At a glance, Wu Ying could tell many of the plants in the garden were not usual vegetation. The gardens consisted of spiritual herbs and uncommon variants of rarer plants. Even in the chill of the early winter morning, sect members moved among the garden, working on the plants with the aid of lanterns.
Wu Ying hesitated before approaching the actual residence, knocking on the door and being shown in by the servant. A short while later, Elder Li clumped out to greet Wu Ying. This time around, Wu Ying noticed the dirt under her fingernails and the mud stuck to the edges of her cloth shoes. This was an Elder who worked the dirt─who got her hands dirty.
“Elder Li,” Wu Ying greeted the Elder, straightening from his bow.
“You’re early.”
“Elder requested I come in the morning,” Wu Ying said. “I assumed the Elder meant a farmer’s morning.”
A wide grin broke across the Elder’s face. Her cane flicked up from the ground and swiftly approached Wu Ying’s face. The cane came to an abrupt halt before dipping to tap him on the shoulder. “Smart boy. Just be careful. Those who are too smart can get hurt. Come.”
Wu Ying rushed to follow the stooped woman, and together, they made their way from the visiting room he had been deposited in past the inner courtyard to the back of the residence. Wu Ying found it amusing to see that throughout the house, numerous pots of plants resided, scattered about as if they had been tossed there. But working on instinct, Wu Ying studied the plants and their locations before he sensed there was a method to their placement. What it was, he could not ascertain, but he grew increasingly certain the haphazard placements were not as random as they seemed at first sight.
“Seen enough?” Elder Li’s scornful voice broke Wu Ying’s concentration. He flushed, opening his mouth to apologize, before Elder Li cut in. “What did you learn?”
“Not much, Elder. I know the placement is not random, but I cannot understand the reasoning,” Wu Ying admitted.
When he finished speaking, he received a smack on his leg from the cane, one that stung as badly as a full-blown kick from Senior Ge. “Of course not. You’re barely an inner sect member. Stop paying attention to things outside of your experience and focus on what is important.”
Elder Li proceeded to exit the building through its back door. Outside, the pair were able to see the full extent of the Elder’s gardens and the greenhouse resting next to it.
“You start work here today. Ru Ping will show you to your workspace and teach you what you need to know.”
“Elder, I do not—”
“A properly cared for Night Blossom in excellent health would garner around a thousand contribution points.”
Wu Ying’s snapped his mouth shut.
“Of course, from the state of the Night Blossoms you brought in, they probably were never more than average to begin with. Worth three hundred contribution points or so,” Elder Li continued. “Still. A fortune to an inner sect member like you, no?”
Wu Ying nodded dumbly.
“You should also consider the fact that I have already informed Elder Hsu you have chosen to work with me. He was quite unhappy when I told him so. He said, and I quote, ‘He was just getting decent.’ I understand your latest bonus will not be coming,” Elder Li continued.
Wu Ying winced, anger sparking at the woman’s high-handed tactics.
“I’ve also informed the assignment hall to refuse to allow you any further assignments until I say so. Elder Pang was quite happy to accede to my request.”
Wu Ying had angered Elder Pang by defeating his sponsored choice, Yin Xue, last year. For a moment, Wu Ying wondered how the man was doing as an outer sect member before he discarded the erroneous thought. He had his own troubles here. “Why, Elder Li?”
“Youngsters do not know what is best for them. It is up to us Elders to make sure they choose the right path.” Elder Li turned her head to look at Wu Ying. “Studying to be a pill refiner might be your eventual path, but have you considered what would happen if you have no talent for the practice? There is no pill scent on you, so I doubt you have touched a pill cauldron.”
Wu Ying shook his head. In truth, he was not sure it was the path he wanted to take. As Elder Li pointed out, he had yet to even touch a pill cauldron. That was why he was working in the blacksmith guild too, learning the basics of forging. Though Wu Ying was making mundane items at the moment, since he had little practical experience to draw upon. He had many more hours left before he could be expected to produce anything useable.
“Who do you think gets pills first? The martial specialist who protects the pill refiner, the blacksmith who can only trade his goods, or the harvester who supplied the refiner?” Elder Li asked. “Our skills might not be well known or highly lauded, but they are necessary and in demand.”
Wu Ying nodded, accepting her words. It was not as if Elder Li had given him much choice in joining her.
Seeing her opponent defeated, Elder Li pointed toward where Ru Ping worked in the fields. The laborer was shorter than Wu Ying and fatter, having kept a layer of pudge even through all the cultivation. Once Wu Ying spotted Ru Ping, Elder Li walked away without another word.
***
“Junior Long Wu Ying greets Senior,” Wu Ying said as he arrived before the portly harvester.
“You are the new recruit?” Ru Ping straightened his back, looking over Wu Ying. “Poor choice in clothing.”
“I did not expect to be working here today,” Wu Ying admitted.
“Elder Li does have a tendency to assert herself,” Ru Ping said. “You may call me Ru Ping. We don’t bother with all that Senior or Junior nonsense.”
Wu Ying dipped his head in agreement, though he felt uncomfortable with the notion. Still, he offered Ru Ping a half-smile. “What is it you need me to do?”
“You’ve worked fields before, correct?” Ru Ping said. “The way you crossed the grounds showed your background. For one, you didn’t trample over everything as you walked.”
“Have people done that?” Wu Ying said in surprise.
“Oh, yes. Why do you think Elder Li took us?” Ru Ping said. “What’s your background?”
“Rice farmer.”
“Mine too,” Ru Ping said, nodding happily. “Not many of us in the sect. But that’s neither here nor there. It’ll be good to show a man around. Most of our workers are women who dabbled in gardening before. But there are some things men are better at.”
Wu Ying felt a deep dread forming at Ru Ping’s words. In short order, he found that his intuition was correct as Ru Ping brought him before piles of compost.
“We need the first, second, and sixth piles turned. Leave the third and fourth piles alone; they’re cooking. And the fifth we need to add more manure to first,” Ru Ping said, clapping Wu Ying on the shoulder. “Once you’re done, there’s a book inside the box in the tree. You should study up on the plants we grow on the seventh to tenth piles.”
Wu Ying glanced over the numbered piles. While the smell of the compost piles was muted, showing they were extremely well cared for, he saw the steam coming off the piles as the compost broke down the refuse. The heat from the decomposing compost piles helped in this case, allowing the gardeners to grow plants that would not be otherwise viable in this cold weather. Of course, Wu Ying wondered why they did not use the greenhouse, but he was certain the book would provide the answer.
Hours later, Wu Ying had turned the compost piles, including the newly refreshed fifth pile, and was upwind, reading the provided book. It was a fascinating book, listing all the plants currently growing and many more which were not present. The book itself was structured differently from the Principles, focused as it was not so much on th
e uses or an index of plants but on the assessment, observation, and care of the flora. There was even a section for the proper transportation methods for each listed plant.
Reading the book provided Wu Ying an understanding of why these plants were grown out in the open instead of being in the greenhouse. Being dual-souled plants, each plant needed both the yang heat gained from the piles and fresh sunlight and the yin chi of death from decomposition. The greenhouse, on the other, hand was pure yang heat from the sunlight, providing none of the necessary yin chi to allow these plants to grow.
As he read and later, when he was directed to help clear a ditch, Wu Ying found himself, for the first time in a long time, content and comfortable. Out here, among the plants, Wu Ying had a form of expertise that was valued. Perhaps the Elder was not so wrong after all.
Chapter 12
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
As Wu Ying breathed, he felt the chi twisting in his dantian. He pushed against it, feeling the way the chi struggled to escape, to find a new level. He had been gathering his chi for some time─weeks of careful progress. He was nearly ready─so close to achieving a breakthrough.
Eyes half-open, Wu Ying picked up the Lesser Bone Marrow Pill he had traded precious sect contribution points for and popped it into his mouth. A dry-mouthed swallow later and the pill was in his stomach, dissolving and releasing the chi contained within. Wu Ying’s eyes opened even as he clamped down hard on his aura.
Each pulse of energy from the pill he swept into his dantian, trying to contain as much of it as possible as it overflowed his dantian and meridians, breaking through the porous barrier of his aura membrane and escaping with each breath. For all the waste, Wu Ying still managed to grasp and contain some of the chi. As the pill released its contents into his body, Wu Ying felt the growing pressure in his lower dantian, the way it struggled to contain the increasing flow. And yet Wu Ying refused to allow his chi a release. Not yet.