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The system that the ancients built was intended to withstand all tests of time, but in any great endeavour
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Matt’s hands shook as he pulled out the chair and sat down at the simple desk. He had found and lit a simple candle that was throwing a flickering light across the small, green book resting in front of him.
A journal, he thought. A journal written by someone who actually lived here once. Who walked these corridors when they were full of people, full of life. A life where people did not die from the wasting disease. What hopes and dreams did they have? What were their ambitions?
Matt’s head tilted suddenly to one side when a very obvious question popped into his thoughts. When do humans die if not from the wasting? At Forty? Sixty? How long do I have now?
Head still reeling with that very fundamental question, Matt opened the journal to the next page with something akin to reverence, opening a gateway into a past that he had so many questions about. Mia’s lessons were still fresh, and he stumbled as he started to read, but soon his eyes were racing down the pages.
> Third-Day of the Fifteenth Week of the 391st Year of the Hidden Mountain Heavenly Retreat
>
> That harlot! She did it again! That is the third time this week that Jiaren has taken Xingchen to her bed. And I could hear them all night, their awful sounds breaking through my intense meditations on the glory of the Heavens. I am certain that she does it only to unsettle me, to taunt me, to disturb my cultivation so that she can surpass me at the next Testing.
>
> She knows well that I love Xingchen with all my heart; she knows how her actions will make me lose focus. Such tactics should be beneath one of Heaven’s cultivators, but she is not worthy. And poor Xingchen. He deserves so much better. Can he not see Jiaren for who she really is? And can he not see how I love him–how I am the best for him? She cannot make him happy like I can. And the worst part is that she does not even care for him! (I will tell Xingchen to stay away from her bed. He will understand!!!)
>
> Sifu Xue Feng advised me to start this journal. It is so silly, but my Xia Core has remained stuck at Tin for nearly a decade, and nothing I have tried to do to improve it has worked. I have meditated on the Glory of the Heavens; I have cultivated in the Sunlit Gardens, absorbing and cycling essence for hours and days and MONTHS! I have practised the Twelve Heavenly Forms, spinning my arms in stupid circles like a mortal trying to fight. The Sect Elder Zhenwu has warned me that I will soon lose my spot in the Cultivation Cycle if I do not improve. And how can I cultivate if that happens? There is no sunshine essence ANYWHERE else. I will become worse than a mortal, a cultivator stopped and stunted at Tin! I will be the laughingstock of the entire mountain! I would rather DIE!
>
> Sifu said that, by the act of putting words on paper, I might find the solutions to my challenges. That I am not progressing because of myself. Which is stupid. Everyone can see Jiaren and people like her are the real problem. But I am desperate and willing to try anything! So here, world, here are my words. I am Chenxi, and I am a failed cultivator.
>
> I curse the day that the Sects closed off Sanctum Citadel, and I curse the day that I was stuck with an affinity for Sunshine Essence. Jiaren and her Rock Essence have no such problems, drawing essence to her is like breathing air. She fills her core and her cycling is perfect, and she flies by my progress in a fraction of the time and with no effort. In the next Testing, she will be found worthy. I just know it. Then they will give her the Everstone pill that she needs to evolve her core–even if she just has a Yi core, and is bound for the healers. (Everyone knows that Xia is the superior core!!!)
>
> Xingchen was my last hope. In his love, I just know that I would have found the calm I need to centre myself, to cycle my core to evolution, and in its absence, my heart cannot find solace. I am bereft, like a leaf on the wind. And from next door, I hear the rhythmic thumping of the end of my life!!!
Coming to the end of the page, Matt wore an amused expression as he looked over the page again. She’s slightly overdramatic, isn’t she? How old is this girl? Twelve? Where he had expected profound insights into the thoughts of the people who used to occupy the mountain, he had found what amounted to a child’s diary. He chuckled to himself as he sent his best wishes back through time, as he read the pages again, this time more carefully. Reading, he made mental notes of the several interesting pieces of information that he found between Chenxi’s melodramatic descriptions of her misery.
He turned the page and read on. The next entry was just a few days later, and he winced inwardly as Chenxi described a confrontation with this Jiaren that he suspected had not played out as well for Chenxi as she had imagined. Amused, Matt continued reading and lost himself in her story. Strange sensations of sympathy, curiosity, and wonder filled him as he was transported to another time and into another life. He idly reflected on how strange it was that simple symbols on a piece of paper could evoke the same feelings in him today, as she had felt so long ago. He was like a time traveller, joining Chenxi as she struggled with cultivation, with her relationships and with her teachers and other students. This is truly another form of magic, he thought to himself as he eagerly turned yet another page.
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Not just a captivating account of a life lost to time, Chenxi’s writing began to fill in gaps in his understanding, answering questions that he had not even structured in his mind. Her description of cycling essence sounded very much like the threads moving around his mind’s sphere, drawing it in and observing it spinning around in a cloud that was becoming increasingly brighter and more dense. People who cycled essence were called cultivators, and they were arranged in sects. As he read, Matt tried to keep track of all the different sects, but eventually he gave up. There seemed to be five sects with more power than the others, making up a ruling council, but below them there were a host of smaller groups. And each one had a name more pretentious than the last.
One question was forcing its way to the front of Matt’s thoughts as he read further in the journal. The writing only ever referred to Chenxi or any of the other cultivators as having a single essence affinity. They spent large parts of their lives hunting for sources of that essence, to absorb it so that they could cycle it into themselves. If there was a lack of that essence, like with Chenxi and her Sunshine essence, it put severe limitations on their ability to progress, sometimes halting them completely.
Matt’s scalp tingled. But I… But I absorb all essences, Matt thought with confusion.
The essence was absorbed to be cycled in their cores, and Matt was now certain that this was the same thing as the sphere in his mind. If his growing understanding was correct, the core was a fundamental part, if not the key to the whole concept of cultivation. Making the core stronger was a recurring topic in the journal, which required the cultivator to cycle essence through the core, always working towards something called evolution. When she evolved, Chenxi went from Tin rank to Iron, then to Bronze and finally to Silver.
As the pieces began to assemble into a clear picture, a wave of relief washed over Matt. There was power there, and if his understanding was correct, it was there for him to reach for. A different power, but as Matt studied the journal, he was not at all sure it was a lesser power. Chenxi would sometimes refer to the mortals, which was her word for non-cultivators, with a disdain that was almost amusing in its arrogance. One paragraph in particular stuck with him.
> Today, I was challenged by a mortal! Can you believe the insolence? The audacity that it takes for a mortal to walk up to me, a cultivator of Iron rank, and issue a formal challenge. I wanted to slap him down on the spot, and I would have if Sifu had not been there to hold me back. Apparently, this mortal is of a high level, whatever that may mean, and I should take his challenge seriously. But still, what impudence!
>
> So now, I am readying myself for the most absurd fight ever. Tomorrow, after dawn, I am to meet this mortal in the arena. And would you believe it? He even issued the challenge under the Auspices of the Empty Vessel, ready to die for real!
In two simple paragraphs, Chenxi gave him not only a renewed sense of purpose, but a belief in his own purpose and value. The new understanding that was dawning within him pointed to a future where he had the strength to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the others. To be useful to their goals. His shoulders shook as the intensity of the emotions welling up in him overwhelmed him.
When Mia appeared in the doorway, Matt was leaning back in the chair, staring into nothing.
“Matt, what is it?” She asked, voice soft as she gingerly stepped in. “Are you crying?”
Momentarily flustered, he wiped at his eyes and looked away before he turned back to Mia, a smile forcing its way to his lips. “It is… I am ok. It is good.” He said, his mind scrambling the words as he tried to explain what he was feeling.
“This book,” he gestured to the table in front of him, his voice still weak. “Has answers.”
Mia sat down on the bed across from him as he tried to describe what he had read. He recounted Chenxi’s story, telling Mia about her ordeals and how she had persevered through the challenges that she’d had with cultivation. He explained some of his conclusions, that there must be a cave somewhere with something like sunlight, about the arena, and about a society bustling with activity. Trading and crafting, schools and politicians. Hundreds if not thousands of people, living a life deep within the Dagger Mountains. The only mention of the outside was when Chenxi wanted to travel out there, to cultivate with real sunshine. The way outside was blocked, permanently.
At some point, Thor, Vic and Pete had joined them, and he continued his narration, telling them about cultivation. About what he had learned, and what he was still guessing about. Now that he retold the story, he realised he wished Chenxi had spent more time explaining details about the exercises and how to cultivate, and fewer words about the various intrigues and drama happening in the settlement. He told them about cores and essence cycling, about meditation and forms, and about the various ranks. At the point where he had stopped reading, Chenxi had just evolved to Silver rank, joining the highest ranked cultivators in Sanctum Citadel.
“Sanctum Citadel?” Thor asked. He had worn a delighted smile throughout Matt’s retelling, and his eyes were sparkling with curiosity.
“Yes, that is what they called this place. There were several references to how this was their haven, a refuge from something happening outside. I…” his words stumbled, and an icy chill ran up his back as he said out loud what had only been a halfway formed thought until now.
“I think they were fleeing the wasting.”