Hao could smell the food before he entered the hall. It moved his heart and stomach. I want some actual food.
It was just the people around the hall were dampening his enthusiasm.
A group of four stood half awake in line in a small yard in front of the hall. Each waiting for their turn to hit some grass that was tied in the shape of a man.
Five steps away from them was a group around a well, fighting over a bucket that dripped water.
Just as Hao reached for the door, it opened, a new group leaving the hall.
Slouched and glassy eyed, they stared forward like they couldn’t see Hao. Brown dust hiding the gray of their robes. Nearly empty bags swinging around in their hands.
All of them were silent and slow in their actions, even the ones fighting, moving like they had chains dragging down their hands.
Is this a ghost town?
Inside the hall was the opposite of Hao’s expectations.
Past the threshold, the floor was clean, only in a few spots could one see dust.
The room was well lit for not having any windows. The brown-stone floors and wall shining from the odd yellow stones that hung from the ceiling.
The familiar sound of a page-turning pulled Hao’s attention.
He did not have to wander the halls to find the place to go. In front of him was the large desk.
A rotund man with black hair slowly losing its color was standing behind the desk, turning pages to a book.
He looked up and noticed Hao before lowering his nose back down behind the cover.
It was smooth, dyed red, and on either side of the cover was a woman falling back. On the front she was playing the flute. On the back, she was sitting on a bench, but somehow her dress was slipping off.
To Hao, it looked like the wind was playing a mean joke on her.
He was not naïve about the relations between men and women. But he was an Islander yet to marry. Not all rituals had been complete, and foreign things still flowed through his blood.
It was not like Hao could marry anyway he failed his Breaktide. Besides, even if I am my father’s son, I am my mother’s son as well. Hao reached up and touched his hair, its colors hard to hide.
As Hao pulled his hand away from his hair, a few women entered the hall from behind Hao.
They had straight backs as they walked in. Nearly bouncing with each step, the brown bags in their hands making a clacking sound. They were almost hiding their exhaustion, but the dust covering them and dark spots under their eyes was as clear as their smiles.
Hao looked back at the desk just in time to see the book in the man’s hand disappear like it never existed.
He put on a serious look as the four women approached, handsome despite his age. Standing tall and looking down, with a small beard covering his second chin.
The women rummaged in their bags the moment they stood still, each taking out a handful of tiny blue stones.
“Well done. As always, ladies, you hit your quotas. What about your team’s bonus quota?”
One of them dropped the stones down on the desk. Hao could barely see them, only the faint blue glow around them.
Taking her hand back, she dug around in the bag again.
Lifting five more slivers of glowing blue. She was about to drop them on the desk when the man reached out and grabbed them.
He held her hand for a second before letting go.
“It’s evil they make fairies like you work in this place. The only thing I can do is give you a warning. You shouldn’t carry your spirit stones around in the open.” The man said.
He had a genuine face of concern.
Something Hao found unexpected from a person in a blue robe. Maybe it’s just because he is a lecher.
“Old Ya, you don’t have to worry. All of us are close to reaching reclamation. There aren’t many who can steal from us.”
“You did well since you started eating food in the hall. Today as well?”
“Yes. It’s thanks to the hall leader’s advice.” the four did a slight bow.
The man threw his head back, holding his belly, letting out a booming laugh that filled the hall.
He took out a scroll and scribbled as he continued his laugh.
“Thank you, hall leader,” the group of women said, walking towards the smell of fat hitting open flame.
The man lost a lot of his energy when the four were gone, Hao being the only one left in that room of the hall.
Hao approached the desk while the man was looking at him.
It was better to get in close when he still had a smile on his face.
The man gave Hao an up and down. With every step he gave an even closer look, lingering on his hair for a moment, his eyes turning sharp.
Hao stopped in an instant. He considered himself lucky no one had shown a real interest in him so far. He stood out less than someone like Zui for a few reasons.
It would have been obvious to anyone who looked closely. Hao stared back, unwavering, preparing for the words forming on the lips beneath the small beard.
“Hm, a newcomer, and judging from your clothes, a real newcomer. Very well, that could be good.”
Hao stood looking at the man.
“Come, take out your badge.”
The man took out a pile of scrolls made from bamboo, similar to the one he was just writing in.
He looked up and noticed Hao still standing there, tapping his finger on the desk.
Hao took his badge that was tucked under his arm out as he approached with a half-bow.
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“Hao greets the hall leader…”
“No need. No need. It’s a temporary title. Just call me Old Ya.” the man said.
He snatched the badge and ran his fingers along the scrolls.
Ya looked at the badge for just a second, pushing it back into Hao’s hands.
Hao didn’t know what it was, but he was writing information in the scroll.
“Those ladies should have been the last to bring me anything till late afternoon.”
Ya walked backwards, going into a door on the far wall behind the desk.
While waiting, Hao was looking in the direction the smell of food was coming from. Feeling a little relieved, his mind went back to food.
It was too hard to ignore. He could almost hear fire crackling and chickens clucking. They’re cooking some type of salt covered bird in there.
He was hoping his job was easy enough to get some food for the night.
Senior Ya appeared back in front of Hao with a bag. Before Hao knew it, the bag was taking up his vision, and the one called Ya was at the door.
“You will need the bag. Now, do you want to go to your quarters first, or shall I show you to your task?”
“Task please, Senior Ya,” Hao said.
He hoped ‘Senior’ would work. It felt wrong to call someone he just met old.
Senior Ya was already out of the door when Hao was putting all his things into the bag.
Leaving him to rush outside. It was clear the man created patience for women that he did not bother with for Hao.
Hao walked alongside the rotund and fast Senior Ya. They passed hole after hole in the cliff face.
Hao had already taken all morning walking here. It was well past noon now. Now, once again, Hao was walking as the sun moved.
Each hole they passed had markings, a carving of a number. The caves were to the left as they walked, and to the right a growing number of huts. Cabins like the one he spent the night near, stretching in rows in front of each hole.
“Hao was it? Have you read any of the ‘Water Breaking Fist’ yet?” Senior Ya asked.
The topic made Hao forget the giant holes and small cabins.
“No, just a few pages in the back,” Hao said.
“Better than most than. The mines can be a good place to practice ‘Water Breaking Fist’. Only if you manage your quota for spirit stones. Collect five stones and the rest of the day and night is yours. Master the technique and you will never have to see the mines again. It’s not a good place for anyone to stay long.”
Ya stopped himself from saying any more, it was not his place.
“Thank you, Senior Ya, for the advice. I will remember it. But can I ask what True Qi and monk marks are?”
Hao felt it was safe to ask a few questions. He felt comfortable around this Senior Ya. The man was casual in tone without sounding condescending, despite wearing blue robes. Not to mention a little more ‘genuine’ with his desires.
Hao didn’t have time to close his mouth before his feet and arms got locked in place.
The friendly demeanor of the man did not disappear, but he stopped on the spot. Turning so fast, his blue robes lifted with a flourish. His hands held across his stomach, Senior Ya looked relaxed, yet Hao felt like there were ten spears at his neck.
“Where are you from? Where did you hear that?” Senior Ya asked.
Hao couldn’t step back if he wanted to, a pressure stronger than the one exuded from the girl named Zu was falling on him like a net.
“I am from the islands, others as well. We went to a temple before a Senior Sister Zu grabbed us. Two kids got selected by the monk there. I heard all of that stuff from the people at the servants’ hall this morning.” Hao said.
Was my trust displaced? This in not the power of a disciple, is it?
“Mm, hmm, it makes sense.” The pressure on Hao disappeared as Senior Ya gave a slight bow.
“I apologize. It’s better to be cautious. No mortals would know such words. Not in a region like this anyway.” Ya said. Turning to continue the walk.
The pressure caused no real harm or discomfort, not taking it to heart after the bow. Hao hurried behind after a second of pause.
Ya started deep in thought, walking at a greater pace. Hao was going to reach a jog just trying to keep up.
“Grabbed… So that is how the sect is recruiting now… Conflict will start here before the war even reaches the disciples,” Ya said, not waiting for Hao.
He turned and looked at Hao as he walked, his pace going back to something slower.
Hao caught up in time to hear a few words.
“You shouldn’t bother worrying about such things. Things like this are far above the disciples in reclamation. You should focus on getting out of the mine first.”
The rest of the walk was silent. Hao was trying to gather his breath.
The hours of walking with an empty stomach had long taken a toll.
The only break in the silence was the occasional humming of sad songs from Senior Ya. He went through an entire catalogue of song, enough to make a demon cry before they slowed their walk. Seeing the last of the mines as they stopped appearing in the distance.
They reached the last of the holes, turning to get closer.
Hao lifted his head to see the mouth of the mountain.
6 meters in width and a little taller, opening like a funnel, identical to the one to the left.
Only a few details were different. The biggest one was the numbers Five and Eight carved into the stone at the side.
“This will be your home for a while. I hope you are strong enough to break the rock.” Ya said it with a straight face, looking at the skinny fish broth fed boy.
“You have a team you can work with. They will be in the last hut in this row. When you reach your own five stones, you can turn them in to me once a day at any time. Just don’t trip and fall on your way to the hall, scavengers are eager to rule this part of the mountain. Especially when a new mine is cracked.” Ya said.
Hao stared at the cave, a tinging sound echoing out of it at a rapid, unsteady pace.
Strange tools were around the ground and in racks in front of hole Five Eight, and the hole to the left Five Seven.
Pulling his eyes away from the entrance, Hao turned as he felt a tap on his shoulder.
In front of his face was a semi-translucent blue stone. It was large compared to the one that the women in the hall took out a moment ago.
Just as crude, but with a blue that was slightly lighter.
“Five today, five tomorrow, five the next. That is the only way you will get to eat food. I will give you a tip as an apology; don’t rely on food pills, they only relieve hunger. There is a bonus team task every five days too. How you handle it is up to your team.” Yi said.
The blue stone in his hand disappeared like the book before as he turned, walking back the way he came from. When he was out of Hao’s sight, he turned to watch a little longer.
Every step since leaving the shore brought uncertainty and now was nothing new. Something Hao wanted to welcome.
Still, it was hard to deny that itching feeling on his tongue, the feeling of powerlessness he thought he long discarded.
It was the reason he took his Breaktide early. And after he failed, he learned from the elders. When the elders had nothing to teach him, he learned and did the women’s jobs.
Yet he got a push from the Island without his say. Rejected from the Temple of Water without a chance. Dragged through the sky by a flying girl. Had his ‘fate determined’ by two guys he didn’t know the names of.
Now he was here before a mine, standing on an Immortal mountain.
Hao sat for a moment as he puffed out a long breath of air.
Trying to find the best way to carry his things. You can descale me like a fish before I leave this stuff on the ground.
He began organizing his possessions, which had multiplied since sunrise. Before, he had just the hemp clothing.
Now he took his medicine bottle, book, and badge, hiding them snuggly in his new gray robe, which he rolled up. Placing them deeper in the hemp bag he just received.
For now food, tomorrow silver coins, till I can walk in the sky.
Hao stood quick taking a tool from the rack. Carrying it along with his bag as he passed the earthen lips.
He couldn’t say much about the tool. It was sturdy, heavier than a knife, and that was the only remark he could make.
It had a large metal head pointed at one side with a wooden handle.
It was pretty beat up from use, only the tip of it was shining in the light.
With his bag and pickaxe on his shoulders, Hao passed the lips of stone, expecting pure dark.
He got a pleasant surprise, seeing blue light as soon as he walked a few paces in.
A large blue pillar was in the center of the cavern. It had the dim glow of blue like the ‘spirit stones’.
It was a deeper blue, darker than any he had seen so far, sprouting from the ground and stretching to the ceiling of the cave.
Hao felt a temptation to walk up and hit it with the tool in his hands, but seeing as no one else was, he figured there was a reason not to.
Instead, he watched what the others did, sliding their hands along the walls of the cave around the blue pillar.
Tapping lighting while listening for a hollow sound.
When they didn’t hear a noise, they moved. If they heard it, it was an instant reaction. Everyone turned their heads and eyes.
The person who found it lifted their tool, swinging it into the wall.
If a blue glimmer shined through brown dust, they swung harder. When the uncovered spirit stones rolled out, hands jumped, grabbing them as quickly as possible.
The people with teams worked together, mining, picking up the stones, and intimidating anyone who got close to what was theirs.
Hao tried to replicate the process.
He had to dance around the groups and people putting on their territorial displays.
Ending up at the far end of the cave where no one was digging.
There was a tunnel nearby, some type of cave-in that sloped down to darkness.
It took a few hours for Hao to hear a sound.
Finding a dull tunk sound, he poked a hole in the wall using all his strength, barely able to lift the tool back up after he swung it once.
A single stone rested in the wall, large, about the size of his palm, bigger than even the one Senior Ya had showed him.
The size was a surprise, but the color, or lack thereof, was even better.
It didn’t have the slightest tint of blue, shining a clear white light.
Hao hurried to stuff it into his bag, wrapping it under his robe with the book and bottle.
Exhausted and more people coming into the cave, Hao called his day. His stomach was only getting worse, and the thought of taking a food pill tugged at him.
He found his team room easily. All he had to do was pass the identical huts until he found the last.
The door was open, pushed inside. The only light was the sun, close to reaching the sky’s end.
Inside was nothing special, two bunk beds, making it four beds, nothing catching his eye, a table with nothing on it, a good place to put his bag.
Hao entered further into the room, thinking there was no one inside until he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.
Bundled up in the bottom bunk bed on the left side, the way the door opened, was a person.
Or so he thought it was a person. Skinnier than Hao, who had to butcher a fish for a spoonful of broth.
He stared at Hao and Hao stared back, looking into eyes like boats with tall masts on a sea of white. They were looking at Hao but they swayed, pupils unable to stay still.
He said nothing to Hao, looking away in time. Hao said nothing either too tired for any games.
But he kept one ear open as he closed the door, listening for the sound of dirt shuffling on the untended floor.
To the bed, he crawled in, hiding his neck in a bunched-up blanket. He was not sure why, but it felt right.
Using the stone wrapped in his robes tucked into his bag as a pillow, he closed his eyes.
Bang! Hao opened his eyes to the door slamming.