Unseen Cultivator

Completion of training did not, on its own, offer the immediate freedom to travel beyond the gateway and into the Ruined Wastes. The sect had spent years considering what it might mean to set Qing Liao loose into the wilderness, and they had developed substantial plans supplemented by schemes of considerable cunning to maximize the utility of these excursions. Liao realized that he had not paid sufficient mind to such matters when he discovered the identity of the visitor who carried his authorization as a scout from the grand elders to his courtyard.

For the first time in his life he properly experienced the phenomenon characterized by the saying 'the flesh is malleable, qi is eternal.' Liao did not recognize the face of the woman sent to his abode carrying a thick sheaf of papers, but this did not prevent him from recognizing her instantly and perfectly.

The grand elders had chosen their messenger with typical entwined mindset by dispatching his former classmate Zhou Hua as their courier.

Recognition and identity offered up a following surge of embarrassment as Liao considered the generally shabby state of his courtyard. Unwilling to sentence a new servant to the lonely task of keeping watch over a home empty more weeks than not, he had not retained any such individual. Instead, he'd contracted a gardener to visit once each week in order to tend to the plants and conduct a general cleaning. He had arranged with the members of the cooking pavilion to have meals delivered on such days as he was present. The expense of such service was rendered negligible by the lack of frequency.

It left his little hall, unadorned save by stout cases holding leatherworking manuals, and courtyard, home to various samples of leatherwork hanging in mixed states of experimentation, rather crude and thoroughly unsuited to the needs of entertaining guests. Certainly it was inappropriate to welcome a fellow disciple in the thought weaving realm – a status evidenced by the yellow belt wrapped about Zhou Hua's waist – during anything other than an emergency circumstance.

Lacking any resident servants, Liao was forced to scramble to the gate himself in answer to the chime, an act that left him feeling pathetic and waiting for a rebuke from his mother. It was not the impression he wished to offer. He might spend time as a wild man in the woods, but while living in the sect he knew he ought to comport himself properly as a cultivator.

The look on his classmate's otherwise serene face as she took in this state of affairs, full of silent assessment that he could not help but interpret as disapproval, did not improve Liao's reaction. Probably, the logical and reasoning part of his mind rationalized, that had less to do with the surroundings and instead reflected a well justified displeasure at being forced to take on this new assignment. Not that such shifts aided him. One way or another, any chance to offer a good impression upon renewed acquaintance had been lost.

He would need to think hard, and spend considerably, to find a proper gift capable of making up for this mistake.

For now, the only reasonable option was to apologize. "Please, be welcome," he bowed to his guest, deeper than strictly necessary to a peer of the same realm. "I am sorry to impose my...disordered property upon you. I have been neglectful while away. Please, do not feel obligated to stay. We can remove to a suitable place of business at once, if you prefer."

He almost hoped she would agree to the proposal. The cooking pavilion had a number of fine, and extremely private, dining spaces, that could be rented and readied as fast as a servant could run the message across the sect. It would represent a brutal indictment of his skill as a host, but Liao could accept that much in return for assuaging disdain.

"It is of no consequence," Zhou Hua ignored the offer, and the disorder. Beyond the first look, it might not have existed. "Why waste time?"

Her voice was different, elegant, refined, and restrained, though it retained an echo of the sharply curious inquiry his memory most thoroughly associated with this woman.

The rest of the disciple had been equally transformed by time and maturation. Where she had arrived in the sect as a reed-thin creature of tiny size and sharp edges, growth, grooming, and cultivation had scrubbed all remnant of that waif away. She was now a properly elegant being with deep eyes, a soft expression, and boundless grace in timeless fashion. Her bony frame had softened to project gentle curves and a precisely proportioned shape that carried the white robes and wide sash effortlessly. Pale skin, a narrow face with a sharply pointed chin, and otherwise simple, easy features were highlighted by a complex arrangement that drew her long black hair up in a bun while allowing slender strands to hang down just beyond the edge of her eyes.

She had the pale, delicate, but firmly sculpted hands that marked her out as a veteran alchemist.

Liao was struck by the sudden impression that Zhou Hua resembled nothing so much as a painting of a cultivator brought to life. Everything regarding her appearance met expectations precisely. Pretty without being beautiful, elegant without being ostentatious, and gentle without appearing weak, she represented an idealized vision of a disciple of the Celestial Origin Sect.

It was not an affectation. Liao could feel that much. Zhou Hua appeared as a finely crafted creation, something manufactured by the writings and teachings of the Celestial Mother not because it was a mask, but because that was truly who she had molded herself to be. The girl who had been the first to offer an answer in class, had been the first to master every teaching, and the first to become a proper cultivator out of all eighteen recruits had only continued to push towards and through expectations ever since, exactly as was taught.

He could almost feel Sayaana sneering inside his skull, but no words emerged.

Qing Liao and Zhou Hua were the same age, but while he had only just reached the thought weaving realm some months earlier, she was a full dozen years and three layers ahead of him. Only a fool would mock or challenge such efficiency.

When he laid out a pair of cushions before the stove, she sat without hesitation. Courteously, she did not reference the inadequacy of his home by requesting that he prepare refreshments. It would soon become clear that Zhou Hua was not the type to spend idle moments in the appreciation of fine food, or much of anything else.

"Scouts traditionally work in pairs," Zhou Hua began unprompted, all business from the very start. "That is impossible in your case, but the grand elders still wish a second individual to be directly involved in all your efforts regarding the Ruined Wastes. Accordingly, I have been assigned as your liaison."

She did not sound especially pleased to have received this order. Her cheeks pinched slightly when making this announcement.

"I am sorry," Liao apologized in the grand elders' place, knowing they would not, could not, display such regrets. "I believe the sect desires to keep my associations limited to those who know me already. I imagine your name was the only one on their list." He had kept aware, moderately, of news regarding other members of his recruit class. Beside him, Zhou Hua was the only one in the thought weaving realm, and none of the others were presently even close to that milestone.

His progress, which he happily credited almost entirely to Sayaana, had been quite swift by most measures. Zhou Hua's had been stunning, the rise of a genuine cultivation prodigy.

"You are correct," she noted, face slightly arched as she spoke tightly. "But there is nothing to regret."

"Ah…" Liao paused. The lack of resentment appeared genuine. His former classmate even smiled, though it was a tiny twisting motion that affected no more than the barest tips of her lips.

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"I owe you my life, so working with you is an acceptable means to pay off the debt," this explanation emerged unprompted. "Grand Elder Artemay explained your position during the demon horde incursion. Half of our class died on the Starwall, and I was injured." She pointed a carefully sculpted fingernail to her nose, which retained a small scar increased cultivation had not yet entirely erased. "But I survived. Traditionally, when a horde comes, the class of that year, and most of the last ten, is annihilated, with no more than one or two survivors. If not for you, that would have been the end."

The logic supporting this deduction was simple, easily followed, and sound. Liao did not believe it, himself, nor did he consider sitting in a hole underground and pulling a string a worthy contribution. Certainly nothing that incurred a debt from anyone. However, he also recognized that arguing the subject would be pointless. He doubted he could defeat this alchemist in any debate, never mind on a subject she had clearly considered thoroughly. It sufficed to accept the gratitude and move forward. Anything else would be rude.

Zhou Hua had been smarter than he was at fourteen, and he was sure she remained smarter than him now.

"Besides," she amended. "I am an alchemist, and this task shall reward me immensely."

Liao did not quite grasp this statement at once. Rather than responding, he waited. It seemed likely that his new liaison had much more to say.

"You have been approved to undertake missions in the Ruined Wastes," the explanation that followed was tight and snappy. Zhou Hua recited the words as if speaking from a manual, the absolute master of all she conveyed. "But you are not granted the right to simply wander at a whim. Nor are you to be integrated into the scouts' patrol network. The sect believes that such an act would foster dependency. Grand Elder Artemay made is absolutely clear that matters must be arranged such that, should you be slain, the sect would suffer no reduction in readiness whatsoever."

That sounded like the hooded grand elder, especially the mercilessly flat manner in which it was delivered.

"However, you are not to be used purely for exploration either," the recitation continued. "A decision has been made to take advantage of your unique ability to remain beyond the gate for prolonged periods to supply the sect with resources that are not presently available within Mother's Gift and are found beyond the range of traditional scouting missions." She hefted the heavy sheaf of papers she'd carried with her and laid them down upon the tiles between them "Labor is to be divided equally between the needs of the twelve pavilions. Each one has provided you with a list."

"They want to use you as a beast of burden," Sayaana's words rumbled through Liao's skull. She sounded angry, but in a dull manner. They had both expected this, had realized it was coming months ago.

For his part, Liao did not much mind. He wanted to see the world beyond the gateway, but he did so with an eye on the bounty it could offer. He was no alchemist, but chemicals were a part of curing and tanning hides, to say nothing of the manufacture of dyes. The same thing could be said of other arts. The Twelvefold Panoply was ultimately an integrated method, something he'd learned when following Sayaana's demands that he start out absolutely naked and empty-handed.

He had not, admittedly, expected the sect to be quite so openly mercenary regarding his work. He wondered how much of that was the work of the elders and how much was a matter of Zhou Hua's direct and unsparing approach. The latter, though stark, was rather refreshing. To know what he was being asked to do, exactly, in writing, was somehow most welcome.

"How is this going to work?" Liao asked. He was sure that the sharp-minded alchemist had already designed a complex plan, one it would be pointless to oppose. To claim a narrow aperture of retained personal choice was the only move remaining.

In answer, Zhou Hua pulled out and unfolded a large map drawn on fine silk paper. It presented the land beyond the gateway, extended across a vast distance. Far enough to reach the ocean to the south and east, the mountains to the west, and the plains to the north. Details faded as he looked toward the edges, while the land surrounding Mother's Gift was drawn out in great detail in an exquisite hand.

Concentric circles expanded out from that central space, each matched to a reduction in resolution.

"Grand Elder Artemay informed me that you are immune, invisible, to the plague," the alchemist's voice dropped to a hushed, shifty, whisper. Her expression had grown exceedingly arched across her brow. "She offered very convincing examples, but I must ask you myself. Is that really the truth?"

"Yes." He knew it. Buried in a pit in the middle of the horde, days immersed in the middle of a sea of the plague at its most concentrated. If it could not find him there, in that moment, it never would. Rust Reaper, who'd flown straight toward him despite the immense qi-sensing capabilities any immortal possessed, only offered up an additional layer of proof. Liao had lost all remaining doubts on that day, shooting that arrow. Not that it had made his understanding of why this might be so any more apparent.

Itinay's explanation, that his flesh simply possessed some bizarre and minor variation compared to everyone else, was by no means satisfactory.

"I see," the alchemist did not sound confident, but hesitation washed out of her expression with great swiftness. "In that case, you can, theoretically, roam the Ruined Wastes indefinitely. Of course, the sect is not comfortable with such measures. It will be necessary to establish a record of success to expand operations. Initial missions will be limited to a single full day, already longer than any scout can remain beyond the gate way by a full four times. Over time, assuming you provide results, the duration can be extended and, consequently," she moved a finger along the surface of the map, sliding further and further outward from the central point. "The total distance increased."

It was a reasonable approach, but Liao instantly found it tasted sour on his tongue. "I want to travel to the ocean," he pointed to the vast blue mass on the eastern edge of the map. "And I thought the grand elders wanted sharkskin."

"They do," Zhou Hua pulled a single sheet out from the middle of her folio. The refined calligraphy of the grand elders could be observed quite clearly in the thorough lists of items. "That is a noted priority, along with a number of other items that can be sourced only in the ocean, but," she traced the long line eastward across the map, following the course of a mighty river, until her small hand came to rest next to his own. "By following the Great River eastward it is nearly two thousand kilometers to the sea." She reoriented a moment later, her hand dragged down toward the bottom of the map. "If you proceed straight south, the distance is only half that." Her lips twisted in another tight little smile, apparently amused as his failure to notice this. "But the terrain to the south is very rugged, one series of hills after another, and our knowledge of that region is old and very poor."

One thousand kilometers.

It was both a vast distance, and not that at all. A cultivator in flight, even limited to the speeds of the spirit tempering realm allowed, could cross that distance in a matter of hours. However, even if Liao were capable of such a motion, flight could not be used. Countless demons would look up and notice a human above them.

Running was a much better option. He could jog as fast as most mortals could sprint essentially continually. If he delayed sleep he could make that distance in perhaps two days of constant motion, assuming no obstacles and a straight line. If a road ran to the sea, he might make the trip there and back in half a week.

Of course, there was no road, and thick mountain forest would doubtless present countless obstacles. Worse, sprinting at such tilt would fail to maintain stealth. It would disturb the land and draw demon attention, perhaps even alert a demonic cultivator.

Instead, he would need to trot as a wolf does, and in that way remain unnoticed and unremarked. That, though still swift compared to a man walking, would take far longer. Five or six days of travel, likely with added stops. Ideally, a week each way and a week working along the shore. A full month, essentially, and that was not something the elders would grant easily or swiftly. "How long?" he asked Zhou Hua, knowing she would instantly produce far more accurate calculations than he could.

"I do not know," the admission of uncertainty was very surprising. "Who knows how long it will take to earn sufficient trust from immortals such that their greed outweighs their fears? They do not measure the passage of time as we do." She looked down and stared at the map, and then pulled free another sheet of paper from the mass. "I believe you can reduce the necessary delay by working your way south in increments," she suggested. "It is not so far from the gateway that the nature of the land, and the forest, changes, and becomes rich in many things that do not grow in Mother's Gift without constant care. The land to our east lacks such variation, and the offerings of the grassy north and mountainous west are significantly more limited. Perhaps, in a decade, if there are no complications, they might trust you enough."

Did his mother have a decade? Perhaps, if Orday was kind. It was, at the very least, a real and honest estimate. Zhou Hua's honesty and frankness were traits Liao found himself appreciating already.

He would not have followed her methods, the endless rows of numbers and symbols she'd arranged on one sheet after another hurt his vision, but she was in her way straightforward and practical.

He admired her dedication and lack of ostentation. Perhaps, he dared to hope, they would work well together. They were at least similar in some ways. She had chosen the sterile sky and the burning stars rather than the verdant wild, that was all.

"How do I make them trust me?" With those words, Liao offered to make the association, assigned from high above without the consultation of either party, into a proper partnership.

"You bring them what they want." Similarly, Zhou Hua accepted without needing to say so directly. "The lists are quite comprehensive." With swift and rapid motions she deployed a wave of papers, completely coating the tiles between them. "Mother's Gift is bounteous, but even with greenhouses, cellars, and other contrivances there is much it cannot provide. Supplies can be divided into four major categories: animal, vegetable, fungal, and mineral. I know your focus has been on animals, but aside from a few common creatures, and some rare mineral deposits than can be spotted from a distance, the initial focus must be devoted to plants, fungi, and those insects that live upon them."

She maneuvered her sheets of paper, pointing nails at lines of key emphasis. "I have drawings and descriptions of medical and alchemical plants that we can review, though I'm told you know the plants of Mother's Gift well. Is that accurate?"

Liao nodded. He did not know all that there was to know, but his lore of forest and field was solid.

"In that case, on your first few trips out, start by gathering samples of everything that is unfamiliar and noting how rare it might be. That way we can assemble and refine a list of targets." For the first time, Zhou Hua smiled wide enough to show a hint of her teeth. True enthusiasm flushed across her face at the prospect of new materials, new formulas for alchemy.

Liao thought, unexpectedly, that this arbitrary partnership might work out well.