“So those guys are part of that church of the one true dao?” Jia asked me. I nodded.
“I guess so, yeah. I wonder how they found this place. I wouldn’t have been able to find it without the qi sensing glasses.” I said
“No clue, maybe they just got lucky.” Jia said.
We walked back through the cavern and to the waterfall. We all got drenched again when we walked through the waterfall and the remaining members of the church of the one true dao were nowhere to be seen. I remembered then the qi I sensed at the bottom of the lake and began taking my clothes off.
I heard a shocked yelp from behind me as I disrobed and was left in only my underclothes. I dove down into the water and enhanced my body with qi to increase my speed in the water. The deeper I went, the stronger the presence of water qi was.
I made it to the bottom of the lake and looked around with my qi sensing glasses. Located nearby was what looked like a giant shell on the lake bed. I moved over to the shell and it propelled itself away from me with a jet of water aimed at me. I was astonished at the sudden burst of water but I wasn’t going to be beaten by some weird shell monster. I enhanced my body again and swam after the creature. After half a minute of chasing it, I managed to catch the creature. I punched its shell with all my might but it wouldn’t budge. I manifested my three swords and jammed them between the opening in its shell, forcing it open. The creature died with a flurry of bubbles exploding out from it and all that remained inside its fleshy mouth was a small blue pearl. I took the pearl in hand and felt the water qi around me being drawn into my body without my willing it to.
I made my way out of the water and back onto the shore of the lake. Jia came over to me as I rested on the ground, staring at the pearl now grasped between my fingers.
“What do you have there Astra? Jia asked, a slight blush on her face.
“Dunno.” I said lamely.
“Text, any idea what this is?” I asked.
“ANALYZING.” Text said and a loading bar popped up in my vision.
“Well we’ll find out soon! I said. I dried myself off with fire qi while I waited and after a few minutes of waiting Text finished analyzing the pearl.
“*DING* Heart of the lake. This artifact appears randomly in large enough bodies of fresh water. This artifact promotes the absorption of water qi into the body for the purpose of body cultivation. Anyone holding this object will not be required to breathe while under water.” Text answered.
The part about not needing to breathe was useless to us in the foundation establishment realm but it was nice to know that it helped with body cultivation. I tossed the pearl over to Jia and let her have it. I told her what it did and her eyes widened at the gift.
“Thanks Astra.” She said with a warm smile.
“You’re welcome!” I told her happily.
“Also, while I was down there, we might want to go down there and body cultivate. The amount and quality of water qi down there is amazing and it will certainly be easier to cultivate down there.” I said.
Jia thought about it and nodded.
“Alright, that sounds like a good idea.” She said. Jia joined me in shucking out her outer robes until she was left in only her underclothes just like I was. We both swam down to the bottom of the lake and began cultivating.
By the time I realized how late it was I had almost cultivated my flesh with water qi. I tapped Jia on the shoulder and we both swam up to the top of the lake. It was approaching night time and being outside the city gates when night came would end up with us sleeping on the ground in the woods so we needed to get back to the city. I dried off Jia and I as best as I could with my fire qi and we got dressed and walked back to the city, the clinking of Jia’s two swords a nice melody to our walking.
When we reached the city we made our way to our inn and filled Ji in on the events of the day. He was excited for the new treasures and sword we acquired. He took a look at Jia’s new sword but admitted he wasn’t skilled enough in smithing to tell us anything about it other than that it was expertly made.
He suggested that we bring it to Huang’s shop tomorrow and have him or Yu look it over. Jia agreed and we had our plan for tomorrow. I wanted to go check out the large tree at the city’s center that everyone has been talking about, so I added that onto our proposed itinerary for the day.
We woke up the next morning with Ji and walked with him to Huang’s shop in the southern district. I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of those people from the church of the one true dao, their token clutched in my hand within my pocket. What were they up to in Liusha city?
We made it to Huang’s at the same time Yu did. She let us all in when we told her why we had come. We all walked into the back and Yu put on a specialized pair of gloves and smock to work with swords. Jia pulled the sword out of the scabbard we had found lying on the ground nearby where the sword was thrust into the ground.
Yu’s eyes nearly popped out of her head when she took hold of the sword with the specialized glove. Even now the sword was emitting a frosty aura that dropped the temperature in the room.
“I’m sorry guys, I won’t be able to tell you anything about this sword. As far as I can tell it’s a masterwork.” Yu said.
“What’s a masterwork?” Jia asked.
“A masterwork is the greatest work a blacksmith creates in his or her entire lifetime. Their greatest achievement, never to be recreated.” Yu answered. We all looked down at the sword with renewed interest. Just then we heard a gruff voice from the front of the shop.
“Why is it so cold in me dang shop!?” Huang said as he walked into the back of the shop. He froze in his tracks at the sight of the sword and nearly bowled Jia and I over in his haste to get a better look at the sword.
The sword’s pale white blade and pommel accented with light blue shone brightly under the master’s critical eye.
“This sword is incredible, a masterwork even!” He said, looking around the room, clutching the sword to his body despite the thin layer of frost now coating his skin where the sword touched him.
“You, ice girl, what do you want for the sword?” He asked Jia. She bristled a bit at the nickname but remembering he was a master craftsman she settled her anger.
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“I won’t sell it, it’s my new weapon. It matches my cultivation method perfectly, and I pulled it out from where it was stuck in the ground.”
At the mention of the sword being stuck in the ground Huang put the sword down and backed away from it.
“You didn’t say the sword was cursed!” he yelled at us.
“Cursed? What do you mean?” I asked him.
“You found this sword stuck in the ground somewhere hidden, yes? The sword producing an aura preventing any but someone worthy from approaching, yes?” He asked us.
Both Jia and I nodded at his question.
“Then the sword is cursed! Long ago someone sealed a demon within this sword, probably some ice aligned demon, and the sword became a masterwork quality weapon. But the demon’s influence will try to sway the wielder’s mind toward releasing the demon from its cage within the sword. Should the demon be released, he will kill the wielder and any living beings nearby until it is either killed, or sealed again. Now get this accursed item out of my shop!” Huang yelled.
Jia and I left the blacksmith’s shop and began walking to the center of the city together.
“Are you going to keep the sword?” I asked Jia.
“I’m not sure yet. On one hand I don’t want to die from a demon, but on the other hand this sword is really amazing and pairs well with my cultivation and fighting style. I think I might go to a library and see if I can read up on cursed items.” Jia said.
“That’s a good idea. I think I’m still going to check out that tree and see if I can cultivate my wood element while I’m here.” I said. We hugged and went our separate ways. Shimmer stayed with me much to Jia’s disappointment.
I made my way through the winding streets of the city. More than once I encountered a deep furrow in the ground that was too large to jump across so I needed to take the sky pathways through the canopies while heading to the center of the city. The entire trip I could see my destination in the distance. A towering tree dwarfing all of the trees around it that must have been nearly as large as one of the peaks back at the sect.
As I approached closer to the wooded giant the density of wood qi in the air increased. It felt like I was wading through it by the time I reached the base of the tree. The areas next to the tree all around it were designated as a no construction zone and were populated by tourists, residents, and cultivators. Up and down the tree I saw little pockets within the bark of the tree where cultivators could pay to cultivate for a certain amount of time according to a tour guide nearby that I paid. Similar to the tree at nourishing petal peak, long lines of string were hanging down, curled around the tree, with large pieces of paper with formations drawn on them hanging from the string.
I moved closer to the tree and was delighted to see all of the people spending time with their families on outings and picnics in the grassland surrounding the tree. Its large roots sticking out of the ground, providing shelter from the wind, and natural tunnels to travel under. Children were playing on the roots chasing each other up and down the gigantic wooden play sets.
I walked around the tree for a time, looking for someone I could ask about renting a space to cultivate in the tree when I almost bumped into an old man in my distraction.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, that’s my fault for not paying attention, I was looking for someone to ask about cultivating within the tree.” I told the old man, hoping my excuse would mollify him.
He pointed to a cultivator in a bright green robe and left me with a few words before mysteriously walking away.
“Life perpetuates death, and death, life. One cannot exist without the other in an eternal cycle.”
I looked at the man he pointed out but when I turned back around, the old man was gone.
I looked around for him a little longer, wanting to ask him what his words meant, but was unable to find the man. Even Shimmer looked unable to locate him as she sniffed the ground confusedly. I picked her up and brought her with me to speak to the cultivator in green robes.
“Hello, are you someone I should speak to about cultivating within the tree?” I asked the man after grabbing his attention.
“Yes ma’am,” He said.
“It will be one gold for a day of cultivation within the great tree. You will be given a token you must return upon the day’s completion or the completion of your cultivation. Would you like to cultivate within the tree?”
“What are the benefits? It seems like cultivating my body outside the tree would still be effective based on the density of qi in the area.” I said. He nodded.
“You could cultivate here in the clearing, but it’s frowned upon by the locals. As you may know, body cultivation usually results in…negative consequences for those nearby.” He said.
I understood by looking around. I wouldn’t take kindly to someone suddenly being covered in a noxious black gunk while I was out with my family for the day. I fished out a gold from my pocket and gave it to the man.
“Thank you young miss, please enjoy your cultivation. Find an empty place in the tree and cultivate to your heart’s content!” He told me with a wide smile on his face. I thanked him and empowered myself with qi before jumping up the roots of the tree
I jumped up the trunk looking out for a place to cultivate when I spotted an open area. I jumped up into the spot and found a tiny nook situated within the tree. What I couldn’t see from far away before was the tiny table situated in the nook and the cultivating mat on the ground to provide a convenient place for the cultivator to sit while cultivating.
I sat down on the mat and began cultivating.
I felt the wood qi flow into my body, its abundance almost overwhelming my ability to absorb it into my body’s facets. Each time I tried to cultivate my body, that man’s words invaded my mind.
Life and death, an endless cycle. What did it mean? Did it have to do with the tree? The trees gain nourishment from the deaths of creatures nourishing the soil and the trees give life giving oxygen to creatures that require it. But that didn’t feel right. It felt like once I came to the correct conclusion I would feel something.
I pondered on it more while I dutifully cultivated my spirit instead of my body. I absorbed the wood qi into my dantian. I looked at my cultivation spirals on a whim and watched them for a time. Wood and metal qi spun endlessly in harmony with each other in my dantian. Wood and metal, life and death. An endless cycle, cultivation and harmony. I felt I was on the precipice of understanding something but was just missing one crucial element.
This large tree represented life. It nourished, and protected, just like wood qi nourished the body and healed. Wood qi represented life, but you could not nourish life without death. They are integral to one another, thus wood qi is not just representative of life, but also of death!
I felt something click within myself and a bell chime sounded out around me. I looked around for the source of the noise but couldn’t see anything. My attention was captured by Shimmer. I looked down towards the fox and noticed that she now had a tail! The long white tail swayed in the wind and on its tip an eerie blue wisp of fire burned with the character for wood centered within the flame. As soon as the flame appeared, it disappeared, and only Shimmer’s new tail remained.
“Why do you have a new tail?” I asked Shimmer, not expecting an answer.
“ANSWER: The users understanding of the dao of wood has reached and passed a crucial bottleneck. The dao of wood has recognized the user’s attainments in understanding it and your qi spirit has reflected this change.”
“What is a dao anyway?” I asked, realizing I never asked before.
“ANSWER: A Dao is a basic concept in the universe. Things like elements, unique parts of a cultivator and some aspects of martial arts all have their own Dao. The Dao is a metaphysical representation of the concept. When the user seeks understanding of a concept, their attunement with the Dao of that concept also increases. When a certain level of understanding is reached, a cultivator may be recognized by the Dao of that concept. Being recognized by a Dao gives the user many benefits when cultivating and fighting using the concept the Dao represents. For example: The user has now been recognized by the Dao of wood as having reached a significant level of understanding about the concept of the wood element. The user should now find it significantly easier to cultivate wood qi in body and spirit cultivation. The user will also find that their techniques will become more powerful as wood qi is used in each of the user’s techniques.” Text answered.
I think that all made sense. I wasn’t quite sure, but I was excited to cultivate knowing that now it would be easier. I gave Shimmer a few pets and then returned to my cultivation.