NOVEL NEXT Bk 5 Ch 42: Jade Emperor
As Chang-li and Min emerged from the grove of peach trees, holding hands, Chang-li halted in surprise. Hiroko and Joshi were locked in an embrace, and Hiroko herself was glowing. Literally. Swirls of lux wrapped around her.
Min chuckled and squeezed his hand. "About time," she murmured, but the others must have heard her. They sprang apart, Joshi turning red as Hiroko started speaking quickly.
"Oh good, you made it to the peak, Min. Me too. I mean, I passed the Veil of Heart and —"
"That's clear," Chang-li said, raising an eyebrow as he grinned at the pair. "Congratulations. If you're all done, then let's get this peach to the Jade Emperor and move up to the next level before any of Eri's people find us."
"Agreed," Joshi said, and strode off toward the gate quickly, the others following.
The stair they climbed now was golden and marble, each step carefully laid in and defined. They reached the top and found themselves in another garden. Here, a long banquet table had been laid out, low to the ground, with pillows scattered around it. There were no guests visible.
Platters of food stood on the table. Golden dishes waited to be filled. Empty goblets stood beside crystal vases of crimson wine. Chang-li could smell only the heavenly peach that he was carrying. Soft music played from no visible source, a noise of harps and strings like gently trickling water.
One enormous golden chair, decorated with jade lions and dragons, dominated the table's center. A throne fit for a Jade Emperor. A wizened old man stood beside it, wearing black robes with red trimming. He had a long white beard and mustache and carried a rolled-up scroll in his hands. "Who approaches the feast-tables of the Jade Emperor?" he asked, his voice creaky with age.
Chang-li led the way up to the table, ignoring the majordomo. The elderly man called out, "Stop! State your business! You are not on the guest list!"
"Our business is with your emperor, not his lapdog," Joshi said as Chang-li reached out and set the peach on the golden plate in front of the empty throne, then stepped back.
A moment later, there was a man on the throne.
He looked a vigorous middle age, with dark, flowing hair that cascaded down his back and over the side of his chair, down onto the grass, mixed with the chain of his robe there. He had red lacquered fingernails and an arrogant, haughty look.
The majordomo rushed forward and threw himself to hands and knees. "Your Divine Majesty, forgive this one! These intruders refused to listen and have called you from your business elsewhere."
The emperor raised a hand. His nails were long, lacquered in black. His eyes were jade. They narrowed as he looked down at the peach, and then at the four cultivators. "Silence, slave." Then to Chang-li, "You have had help from one of my miscreants, have you?"
"We have brought the Peach of Heaven to you," Chang-li said, ignoring the question, and he bowed. "Please, let us pass to the next floor of this tower."
"That is easily arranged," the emperor said. He made a gesture, and a pair of enormous golden doors appeared behind him, wreathed in clouds, with ornate dragons carved into it. Their eyes were rubies and emeralds, and they seemed to move as Chang-li looked.
The Jade Emperor picked up a small golden knife and carved off a slice of the peach, which he lifted to his reddened lips and swallowed in one delicate bite. He chewed before swallowing.
"Such a peach. It has been years since I tasted it. Well done. I shall grant you a boon. What is it you would ask of me? I can grant you many gifts. You have dangerous enemies pursuing you. There are gifts I can offer, to confuse them, delay them…"
Chang-li and Joshi glanced at each other. Chang-li wet his lips. "First, your majesty, we have promised to speak on behalf of another, one who is bound to this place."
"Your Majesty," Hiroko interrupted, placing her hands together and bowing low. "The boon we ask is for you to free Sun Wukong from the seal which keeps him bound here, and give him to us as our guide going forward."
Chang-li held himself back from protesting. That had not been their arrangement with Sun. Then again, Hiroko might be right. Sun would be a valuable asset. Certainly he was strong enough to face one or more of Eri's minions.
"Hmm," the Emperor said, placing his hands together. "Wukong could be an ally to you going forward, I see. But he is slippery and tricky, and likely will not wish to aid you."
"Did you place the seal on him?" Chang-li asked boldly.
The Jade Emperor's eyes flickered. He paused, and when he spoke, there was an odd note in his voice, as if he was trying to recall something. "I... I..." He blinked. "Sun Wukong defied the heavens and has been imprisoned here."
There was something strange here, but Chang-li pressed. "If you can keep him bound to this mountain, then surely there is a way to ensure he will help us."
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He felt a slight pang of guilt here. Hiroko had seen it before he did. The bargain they'd made with Sun Wukong could be fulfilled in more than one way. The strange being clearly had intimate knowledge of the tower, far more than expected for a tower guardian. Even if what made him different wasn't clear, he would be a great asset. But if he resented them for tricking him...
The Jade Emperor's deliberation seemed to continue, and Chang-li had an inspiration. "Your Majesty, this is not your court, is it?"
The Emperor shook his head. "No, of course. This is merely a banqueting hall, convenient to the Garden of Heavenly Peaches. My court lies high above, at the top of this tower."
"Then what if you tell Sun he must come to you in order to be fully released from his bonds? We will accompany him on his journey. Then he will be grateful for our help, rather than resenting us." He wasn't sure it would work, but it was worth a try.
The Emperor smiled. "Tricking the trickster. I like that very much," he said. "Yes, yes, let us do that."
He snapped his fingers, and an instant later, Sun Wukong appeared. There was a red and gold sash around his waist that Chang-li had never before seen. The sash was immensely long, leading away into the distance. There were characters written on the sash, and as he looked at it, he realized it was an enormous magical seal of incredible power.
The Jade Emperor looked down at Sun Wukong. "Welcome to my presence, trickster," he said coldly. "These cultivators have come to plead mercy for your case. I have decided to grant you an opportunity to be free. I have loosened the seal which binds you to this mountain, but only a little. Now you are sealed to the tower itself. Do you wish to be set free?"
"I do, Your Majesty," Sun Wukong said, his normal assertiveness hidden. He kept his face low as he bowed. "I have spent long enough in your realm, and wish to return to my own."
"Then come and find me in the Jade Court and plead your case. I will listen then to the testimony of these cultivators. If they reach my court and tell me they wish to support your case, I shall give great weight to it. But if you reach it alone and tell me they are all dead, then I shall bury you beneath this mountain for the rest of eternity."
The Emperor rose, literally. He was hovering on a golden cloud above the throne. He looked to Chang-li and snapped his fingers once more.
The cord around Sun Wukong's waist vanished. It was replaced by a simple red band around his forehead, peeking out from under his helmet. At the same time, a weight fell into Chang-li's hand. He glanced down at it. It was a simple lucky token, straight on three sides with a triangular top, and a character on front and back written in gold against the white porcelain. One side read "shrink", the other read "grow".
"This will enable you to ensure that Wukong obeys your wishes," the Emperor said. "But do not trust him in any circumstances."
Chang-li and his friends bowed low. "Thank you, Your Majesty."
The Emperor was gone.
The major-domo came rushing forward, protesting. Chang-li ignored him and turned on Wukong, who had a sickly grin fixed on his face.
"So," Sun Wukong said slowly, "it seems we are to be in each other's company once more."
"Our paths are the same," Chang-li said, forcing himself to meet Wukong's eyes. "And we did as you asked. You are free of this mountain."
"My bonds rest heavily on me," Wukong muttered. "Very well. You think yourselves clever, little cultivators, but I have been cultivating for a thousand generations before you were born. I am not fooled by your actions."
He bowed very low. "You have won this round, and it does place me on a path to regain my freedom. You have my respect—and perforce, my loyalty."
He glanced at the token in Chang-li's hand. Instinctively, Chang-li wrapped his fingers around it and pulled it back, slipping it into a pocket of his robe.
"My own best interests require me to see you four all the way to the top. But by bringing me along, you may have made your path more dangerous."
"How is that?" Hiroko asked quietly, her face even more pale than usual. Min and Joshi were listening intently. Neither spoke.
"This place shapes itself to me," Sun Wukong said, gesturing about.
Hiroko nodded. "I wondered about that. At first I thought you were simply another Tower Beast, placed into a setting taken from the stories my grandmother used to tell me. But that's not it at all, is it?"
"Who are you, really?" Chang-li asked, his hand still on the token in his pocket.
Wukong took a deep breath. "I was a cultivator like you once," he said. "My friends and I ascended to the heavens, and I continued my climb there alongside my patron. For many centuries, that was enough. But I found the shortcuts I had taken in this realm left me hampered. Before, I thought it was enough to be in the retinue of a greater cultivator. I came to see it was not. When my path and his diverged, I was left with nothing. I thought I could remedy my mistake by returning to this lower realm."
He let out a deep sigh. "When I entered this tower, it captured me, and I am unable to win free. It has shaped itself to my memories, my stories and legends, the deeds I did in this realm the first time. As we continue into the higher floors, which are stronger in spiritual luxes, that effect will only increase," he warned. "I do not know what will happen. But you have now tied your fate to mine, at least for a time."
"What is your goal?" Chang-li asked.
"Perhaps you should have asked that before you made a bargain with the Jade Emperor," Sun Wukong said. He studied Chang-li for a moment before nodding. "So be it. I wish to win free and return to the heavens, but it's clear to me that this tower will not aid me. I must seek another source of refined lux if I wish to return in glory rather than disgrace. Your General Li may take what he wishes from this place. I have no interest in it."
Joshi grunted. "We've wasted enough time here. We must continue onward."
Sun Wukong nodded. "Very well. I can see the peaches have done as I said they would. You are making excellent progress. But your opponents are still a higher level than you are, and you don't have much hope of closing that gap in time. We will need to be more clever than they are, to turn their strengths against them. This next floor should offer us opportunities to do that, if you're willing to risk it."
"We'll risk anything," Chang-li declared.
"Then let us proceed."
As they approached the great doors, Joshi caught Chang-li's arm. "I had been thinking our greatest safety would be to climb to the top of the tower and bring General Li in before Eri's people could find us. I think he's likely powerful enough to take on a handful of Lux Embodiment cultivators."
Chang-li shook his head. There was a weight in his chest. Not just the lens, but a sense of growing dread. "I don't think that's going to work," he said quietly. "I think we will have to destroy them all before we reach the top."
"Then I need to hurry and reach the Lux Endowment stage," Joshi said, his face drawn. "I am close, I know, but my Intent is not yet correct. You have good insight into your own Intent. Perhaps you can find a way to help me with mine."
"I will try," Chang-li said. "Let's see what's waiting for us on the next floor, and then we'll talk."