Tales of the Teal Mountain Sect

Year 663 of the Stable Era,

Eighth day of the eleventh month

Before we have to go home from THE FESTIVAL!

"Did you find any paper?" Ye Kuo asked Jin Tai, clutching the brush and inkstone close to his chest.

A nice cultivator at the exchange table had given him some of his spares after he had asked politely, which meant that they just needed something for the candyman to write with and they could see his technique.

He just hoped that it didn't break anything.

He'd had to give the cultivator an entire silver tael as "collateral", which meant that he would get to keep it if he didn't return everything intact, and he really wanted to get it back. He could get at least a month's worth of snacks for that, as well as some nice paper for Mr. Butterfly, so losing it was an unacceptable cost.

"No, but I found some ink. And I refilled my gourd," Jin Tai replied, taking a sip from his red calabash.

"Don't drink it all!" Ye Kuo said frantically.

"Don't worry, there's plenty left," Jin Tai said, making a face. He took another gulp before recapping it after Ye Kuo kept staring at him. "There. Are you happy now? Where's Li Fan? He said he knew where to get some paper."

As if on cue, their new friend stumbled around the corner, struggling to see over a thick scroll that was almost as tall as he was.

"Where did you find that?" Ye Kuo exclaimed. Mr. Butterfly copied his shock, shaking his wings in confusion.

"I…saw…that…someone…forgot it under a table…by the sweet roll stand," Li Fan wheezed, letting the end of the scroll rest against the ground so that he could lean against it. "So I ran…to see if it was still there…and it was!"

"I think that's from the art table," Jin Tai said, giving it a look. "Are you sure it's blank? What if there's something inside." Li Fan made to open it, but Ye Kuo stopped him in time, grabbing his hand as he reached for the neat red cord holding it closed.

"What if it's dangerous?" he said seriously, giving the strange scroll a serious look. The other two looked at him, and then back at the scroll.

That was possible, wasn't it? They'd all heard plenty of stories about foolish cultivators that had opened up cursed scrolls only to regret it. What if there was a hungry ghost trapped inside, just waiting to eat up some yummy kids? And there was that story that Shifu Yeung Lin had told them in class, about that disciple who had made a mistake opening a talisman and turned himself into a bloody mist.

Jin Tai edged slightly further away, before darting back to give it a poke. When the scroll remained unresponsive, he repeated the motion, ducking back again in case the second poke was all it took to unleash whatever was sealed within.

When the scroll didn't seem to mind the extra attention, he let out a deep breath, as the rest of his companions did the same, even if in Li Fan's case it was more to finish catching his breath.

"Maybe there's something cool inside," Jin Tai wondered. "Like a secret technique?"

"Or a treasure map!" Ye Kuo added, his caution forgotten now that it seemed that the scroll wasn't plotting to eat them all to unleash an ancient evil or shred every part of their being.

"Or a pretty painting!" Li Fan exclaimed, joining in on the fun. The trio looked at the scroll again, then the other two looked over at him.

"Didn't you check that it was empty?" Jin Tai asked, cocking his head.

"No, I was too busy carrying it over," he said. "This is really, really heavy you know."

"Don't be a wuss," Jin Tai said. "It's just paper, so it can't weigh that much."

"Then you carry it!" Li Fan shot back. "I can carry that grindstone, and then we'll see who's a wuss."

"Fine. I will, and it'll still be you," Jin Tai said. "Shifu said I'm really strong for my age."

"Yeah, well, I bet that my Shifu could beat up your Shifu!"

"Nuh-uh! Shifu Yeung Lin's super strong! He can make a big water dragon that can gobble people up! And he can punch people through walls!"

"Yeah, well, my Shifu's stronger! He can fly, and shoot lightning, and teleport with spatial techniques, and—"

"Stop it you two," Ye Kuo said, pushing between the two before they started slapping each other. "Let's see if it's empty first."

The two grudgingly agreed, giving each other what serious stares as he laid the scroll against the ground. Thankfully the knot was relatively simple, and after loosening it up a bit, Ye Kuo slowly pushed it off the scroll with the end of the fan that he'd won from the ring toss. Mr. Butterfly landed on the scroll to watch him as he did, and he quickly scooped him off just in case the scroll was dangerous after all.

Eventually, the cord came off, and Ye Kuo carefully unrolled it with a tentative push of his fan, keeping himself as far from the paper as possible. The main roll flopped over without any light or explosion, revealing an unimpressively blank scroll.

"Maybe it's got secret invisible writing on it," Jin Tai laughed, skipping away when Ye Kuo tried to kick him in the shin.

***

It had ended up taking the kids the better part of an hour to find the things he had asked for, which had given Chao Ren just enough time to think about what he was going to do to deal with them as he served his newest influx of customers. Thankfully, the line hadn't grown to match the throng that had formed after the play reenacting the founding of the Teal Mountain Sect had ended, and he was just starting his last customer's request when the trio returned, bearing ink, brush, and a ludicrously large scroll.

It was unfortunate to see them return, but not unexpected.

He had hoped that they would get distracted by something like food, fun, or their parents picking them up to prepare them for an early dinner. The last one in particular had always gotten him, whenever he'd wanted to stay at a festival longer. But it would seem that they had actually managed to succeed in their quest.

He wondered where they had gotten the scroll. It was of incredibly high quality, which meant that either one of the kids was from an important family or they had pilfered it from somewhere. He hoped it wasn't the latter. Knowing his luck, he'd probably get blamed for the theft.

He chewed the end of a thin candy stick as he contemplated them out of the corner of his eye, taking his time with the phoenix in his hands now that he could focus on it without the pressure of a line. His chopsticks gently pulled a thin beak from the bulb that formed its head, before he switched to his scissors to carefully cut a frill along the back of its neck.

A few more adjustments with his chopsticks added a series of graceful curves to its crest, and after using a breath of qi to warm them, he gave its wings a proud swoop before handing the sugar sculpture to the little girl waiting for it. She took it with shaking hands, carefully holding it as she stared at it in wonder. She politely bowed to Chao Ren, before heading off after her friends, who had made their way over to watch the fire show. She carefully cradled her hands around the fragile thing, making sure that nobody could bump into it.

"We got it!" Jin Tai exclaimed proudly, the second the girl turned to leave. He plopped the scroll against the side of his booth with a faint thunk that shook the table.

"Yeah, now show us your technique!" Jin Tai added, adding his contribution to the table.

"Very well," Chao Ren said. "Just give me a minute to clear some space." He took his time wiping down the countertop, going over his techniques as he hummed the words of a chant and formed a quick handsign with all but the fourth finger of his right hand extended.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

His tools swooped into the cup he used to keep them clean, neatly arranging themselves as the children watched. While he might not know a real technique yet, he did know a few mortal techniques, even if they were far from impressive on paper.

Most of them were what was typically referred to as lifestyle techniques. Useful, but far from anything earth shattering. Or even really cup shattering for that matter.

He had a technique for removing stains, a technique for quickly refilling his brush, a technique for lighting candles with a gesture, a technique for stacking objects without touching them, and a technique for correcting errant brushstrokes.

Li Fan clapped a little at the display, but Chao Ren stopped him with a raised palm.

"This is but a truly humble technique," he said, putting on his best senior smile. "Little more than a trick, by some standards. The difference between these and true techniques is like that of heaven and earth." To punctuate his point, he gestured at Uncle Liu with a snap of his fingers, releasing another tiny firework that paled in comparison to the gout of flame being breathed into the air.

""Whatdya mean?" Li Fan asked, tilting their head to the side.

"Well, a true technique is the crystallization of knowledge and legacy and refinement," Chao Ren explained, doing his best to paraphrase Shifu Yeung Lin's words. "What I am about to show you is merely something I came up with on my own, rather than something I studied in the scrolls left by our predecessors."

"So, because it's not in a scroll, it's not a real technique?" Li Fan asked curiously. "Doesn't that mean you just need to put it in one?"

"Perhaps one day," Chao Ren said, pouring a small amount of slightly mango-smelling water into the inkstone as he began to grind the ink.

If I even refine it into one, he thought to himself as he dragged his hand back and forth. It'll be a while before I can spend the time to make it something more than a half-formed mess.

"Well," he said, testing the consistency of the ink with the tip of his brush, "I think that this is ready." With one hand he spread the scroll across the countertop, twirling his brush dramatically in his other. "Now, this is a story that has been passed down in my family for ages, that my mother told to me when I was your age."

Jin Tai groaned a little, but Chao Ren continued.

"Just listen, because unlike other tales, this one is more than just the words I speak." Holding his brush over the inkstone, he intoned the words of his technique for dramatic effect. "With the dip of my pen, let us begin again."

A thin tendril of ink slowly twisted up from the dark pool, wrapping around the brush before sticking to its bristles. He touched it to the fine paper of the scroll, tracing out the shapes of mountains as he began his tale.

"Once, in a land far away, there was a snake known as Dahei. He was a large snake, and the elder brother to two others in his youth. They had each been the companions of a noble snake tamer, who, following the custom of his trade, had released each of his charges in turn once they reached a size that was too great to handle."

Chao Ren's hand traces a thin, winding line onto the page, applying a modicum more pressure to the end of his stroke to form a head. Two more joined it, each of the smaller snakes looking up to their larger brother the same way that the kids looked at Chao Ren's drawings as he continued his tale.

"Dahei had lived a life of peace in the forest, content with hunting deer for food and the camaraderie of his younger brothers for company. However, despite his age Dahei soon faced tragedy as his two sworn brothers passed before him. The first to age, the second to sickness." Chao Ren's brush darted up and down, covering the two small snakes with a pair of funerary markers.

"Dahei, with sadness in his heart, soon hoped to pass from grief, and began eating less and less. But as the seasons turned to years, Dahei realized that he could not pass on. For he possessed a drop of divine blood in his veins, from a boar that he had devoured in his youth." The snake grew longer, thicker, as Chao Ren elongated its coils and added the faint half-circle of a tear beneath an imagined eye. His brush moved again, drawing long jagged lines beneath the snake as he continued his tale.

"Resigned to his long, continued life, Dahei considered death. But as he stood-no, lay at the edge of an enormous cliff, he rejected such a fate. It would be a dishonor to his brothers, he thought, if the last to remember them were to perish so easily. He lay on that cliff for three days and nights, remembering the life he had lived with his two brothers."

"He thought back to the days when he had been young, teaching his younger brothers tricks and performing for the children of the villages. Those had been simpler, happier times, and it reminded him that while his brothers were gone, he still had one close connection left: the snake charmer, who had taken such good care of them all in the past."

"And so, Dahei headed for the village," Chao Ren said, unrolling more of the scroll as he drew a village before the snake, tiny huts followed by tiny stick people. "But when he arrived, the villagers gathered to drive him away with force. Fire and sticks and stones, they pelted him with all these things until he ran into the woods, slithering as fast as he could." Ye Kuo raised a hand to his mouth, as the little butterfly on his shoulder flapped its wings.

"For you see, true to his name Dahei had always been a large snake. And over the years he had only continued to grow, the process so gradual that he hadn't noticed until he drew close to the houses. His torso was as thick as a tree trunk, and his teeth were like sabers," Chao Ren said, holding his hands up to his face to imitate the looming fangs, hissing as the children gasped.

"Dahei fled from the villager, disguising himself as a log in the underbrush as they chased after him. It was there that he learnt of yet another tragedy—that his old mentor, the snake charmer, had passed away. He heard from the villagers that he had died several winters ago, as they lamented that they no longer had his aid in protecting them from such a dangerous snake."

"Dahei was unable to believe their words, and rushed over to his old home, that old, worn shack separated from the village by a now thick thicket. There he found it empty." His brush moved to draw the house, adding details with each word.

"The roof had holes in it. The wood was rotting. And behind the house, he found nothing but a single grave. Dahei cried, a long, winding wail, and curled up to sleep for seven days." The snake curled up on the ground, another tear on his face as Chao Ren continued.

"As he slept, he dreamed. Dreamed that he was back to those happier times in his life once again. He remembered a story he had heard years ago, something that the snake charmer had told the village kids while he and his brothers had been swallowing their dinner. It was a tale that everyone has heard. Of a koi that had climbed a waterfall and become a dragon, going from a weak fish to a venerable being beloved by all."

"Dahei woke and came to a conclusion: he would become like that koi. He would climb a waterfall so that he could return to the village. Once he was a dragon the villagers would no longer fear him, and he would no longer be alone." The village and the snake charmer's hut disappeared, as Chao Ren covered them with thick black mountains and a crashing waterfall.

"And so, the resolute snake journeyed forth. He travelled all across the lands, seeking out a waterfall that he could climb. Eventually, he found a great falls deep in the mountains, and he began his training. He strove to climb it, swimming against the current as hard as he could. He devoured countless koi, swallowing entire trees of spirit fruits, and swam until it felt like his scales would fall off." Chao Ren added thicker curves to the waterfall, so that it looked like the snake was trying to climb it only to goofily fall halfway up. Two of the kids laughed as he continued.

"He practiced until he lost track of the days. Until finally, one day, when he pushed himself past his limit, he finally succeeded. He crested the top of the waterfall, and he felt his body tingle. A bolt of lightning struck him, and he felt himself begin to change. He was finally becoming a dragon." Chao Ren drew the lightning strike in as a thick zigzag, his brush splayed as wide as it could as he prepared his last technique in his mind.

He visualized the image in his mind. The thin scales, the forked horns, and the long mane. He breathed in, and then out as he activated it. The technique, the one that he had used so often in his studies, flowed out of him easily, lifting the ink away from the unwanted portions of his drawing. It drifted away, as if scraped off by an invisible instrument, leaving only the image of the dragon that he'd been envisioning: a graceful loong soaring towards the sky, a wide smile across its face as it clutched a pearl in its hands.

"Dahei became a dragon, flying away into the sky as he left that waterfall behind."

Two of the kids clapped, a bit, but it was a bit halfhearted.

"Shifu's storytelling technique is cooler," Jin Tai said, and it took a great effort for Chao Ren to hold in his exasperated sigh.

"That was kind of a sad story," Ye Kuo said, stroking Mr. Butterfly's wings reassuringly.

"What happened to Dahei after he became a dragon?" Li Fan asked, looking at the image of the dragon with an expression that was an odd mix of curiosity and contemplation. "Was he happy, after he became a dragon? Even though he was all alone."

"Of course he was. He returned to the village and everyone loved him," Chao Ren said, waving his hands dramatically. "He brought rain for their crops, and they had plenty to eat and all sorts of other stuff."

"I like Shifu's stories better," Jin Tai said, butting his way back into the conversation.

"Well, I am but a humble disciple," Chao Ren said, a bit defensively. "Perhaps in a century I'll be able to tell you a better tale."

"I liked the story," Li Fan said, patting his hand reassuringly. He'd been a bit quiet since the end of the story, having been the only one of the three not to clap. "It's good that that big ole snakey got to be happy, after everything he went through. It's…a nice ending."

"Thank you for the compliment, young master," Chao Ren said, reaching for his tools. "Now, who wants a candy snake to remember Dahei by?"

"Can I get a dragon?" Jin Tai asked. "Snakes are too boring looking."

"No, but thank you," Ye Kuo said apologetically. "I want to save room for dumplings."

"Ooh, can we get the crab ones?" Li Fan asked. "We don't have those back home."

"I think the dumpling man said that he would have more ready in three sticks," Jin Tai said.

"How long ago was that?" Ye Kuo asked, looking over to his friend, who shrugged in response.

"Dunno, like…a while ago?" he said, squinting at the sun.

"You should have said that earlier!" Ye Kuo exclaimed. "What if they run out again before we get there?"

"Ah," Jin Tai said. "We should probably hurry, then, huh."

"Yay, dumplings!" Li Fan cheered. "Let's go get some!"

Ye Kuo slapped a hand to his face as Mr. Butterfly drooped his wings. "Thank you for the demonstration, senior," he said, giving Chao Ren a quick bow before he gathered up the inkstone and brush. He set off towards the other side of the festival in a sprint, Jin Tai following close behind him, as the little paper butterfly led the way.

"Thank you so much for the story mister!" Li Fan smiled, waving back to Chao Ren as he set off after his companions. "You can keep the scroll!"

"Wait!" Chao Ren called after him. "Where did you get this from?!"