“The Far-Reaching Array,” Wu Jin sneered, “such a fancy name for a worthless device we have wasted too many resources on. This latest failure proves the folly.” He gestured with his long finger to the table on which a charred corpse was displayed. Wu Jin, known as the Golden Roc Elder, had been arguing against the celestial soul-finding array since he arrived in the grand hall.
All the elders of the Soul Hall had gathered for this meeting, they stood around the room, keeping their distance from the corpse. Elder Tai Mu, the Nine-Tailed Fox Elder, held her head up high, her green eyes bright in defiance of his accusations.
The black dragon, Elder Gao Jie, stared at the blackened corpse, remaining silent.
“As I argued before,” Wu Jin continued, “if the Far-Reaching Array was as potent as you claim then our older, wiser, soulforgers would be willing to pay for its use. Instead, we have shouldered the cost of activating it, beguiling promising young soulforgers into believing they can fuse a powerful soul with no ill effects.” His voice echoed around the hall, drawing the ire of some, but nods from more than a few.
A single beam of light shone down from the arched ceiling high above, illuminating the two-color seal of the Soul Hall inscribed on the stone floor. The table with Sun Kai’s body sat centered in the seal, illuminated by the ray.
“Two immediate deaths, and one that survived the fusing only to burn himself to death a week later; those are the results of this failed device. And what was the cost? Forty-two array quality heavenly spirit stones, eighty array quality superior spirit stones, and two hundred and twelve array quality rare spirit stones.” The sheer number of high-quality spirit stones was unfathomable. That number was enough to recruit and train twice the number of soulforgers they currently could for the next twenty years.
“That says nothing of the cost of building the array! With those resources, we could take each new crop of soulforgers on a guided quest, assisting them in fusing the best souls.” Wu Jin transitioned seamlessly to advocate for his ideas.
“This is a setback,” Elder Tai Mu’s voice was clear and bright, “but nothing more. We have long debated the benefits of the Far-reaching array. Sun Kai was a success. We have many witnesses that will confirm he was of sound mind and body. Those that interacted with him found him exceptional and promising. His three cores prove this method has potential.”
“Three cores are what likely killed him. The boy lacked caution and couldn’t control his own cultivation.” Another spoke, a woman in a black hooded robe, Elder Lu Si.
“Cultivation can be perilous for every cultivator. The stronger the cultivator the more they suffer from deviation, but this has nothing to do with the Far-reacher; which succeeded as I promised it would.” Tai Mu attempted to dismantle Wu Jin’s argument.
“He was a monster,” the deep rumbling of the Black Dragon Elder resonated around the chamber, “I met him and guided him on his cultivation path. He was scary in a way I can’t understand, a barely constrained power. This Far-reacher is dangerous. We have no control over who or what responds to its call. The next time it may be us that burns.”
From another elder, his words may have had less impact but from the ancient Gao Jie, the warning was a clarion call. Wu Jin sensed the tide turning not on his economic argument, but on the issue of safety.
“We were assured that we could contain the soul fused into the young soulforger. This time we were fortunate he only killed himself. What if next time we aren’t so fortunate?” Wu Jin picked up the thread Gao Jie started weaving and pressed forward.
“Soulforgers are dangerous, that isn’t going to change because you are afraid of what ifs.” Tai Mu’s retorted.
“Normal soulforgers are dangerous enough, but one super-charged by your Far-reacher device? That exposes us to additional risk. The danger is too high, the results too few, and the cost too much. I move to stop the Far-reacher program until we can properly asses the risk it poses.”
“You just want to redirect the funds to your failed experiments,” Tai Mu’s voice was sharp, but she immediately regretted her petty words.
“The honorable Elder Wu Jin has moved to stop the Far-reacher program until after such a time a conclusive risk assessment can be made. What say you?” The council adjudicator’s voice echoed over other objections.
Conversations broke out around the room, some heated, some quiet. Some elders moved to stand with Wu Jin, and others to ask him questions. After a round of discussion, two groups were left, the larger group sided with Wu JIn, including the black dragon. The smaller group stood around Elder Tai Mu.
“The Far-reacher program is stopped until such a time a thorough risk assessment can be completed.”
Wu Jin stood proudly, a smile threatening to break his passive demeanor. Elder Tai’s face remained impassive as her opponent scored a victory. When the decision was recorded she spoke again.
“We have another concern,” she began, “I met with Elder Zhang Yin and Zhau Shuang from the Main Hall yesterday. The High Priestess of the Lunar Temple has extended an invitation to us to join them at the opening of a secret realm that will happen in six months. The elders have negotiated for one hundred of our disciples to gain entrance, but it was contingent on,” the Elder turned to look at Sun Kai’s corpse, “a young male soulforger, with golden soul light, being among them. The High Priestess has foreseen that his presence is required.”
Elders began discussing the revelation, moving into different groups.
“The foresight of the priestesses of the Lunar Temple is well known, but how can she have foreseen Sun Kai’s assistance given his death?” This was the question that was settled on.
“She must have seen another, what soulforgers have we that fit that description?” another voice echoed the sentiment of many elders. The chance for one hundred disciples to gain entrance to a secret realm was an invaluable prize.
The murmurs continued as the elders began plotting.
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Kai sat on the dais, safe in his soul space, listening to the Soul Hall elders meet. He’d managed to relocate all but a wisp of his energy from each core back to his soul space, leaving barely enough to stay aware.
He concentrated on alternating the energy flow manually, two seconds towards his body, two seconds away. Trying to keep the connection active without building up any energy in his body was a dance that needed his constant attention.
“The Far-Reaching Array,” Kai spoke, his eyes closed in concentration. “Does that sound exactly like the kind of thing that might be able to target an Eternal in a distant galaxy?”
“Indeed.” Relay responded. He was watching the council meeting, translating the conversations. Elder’s voices hummed in the background, the many discreet conversations blurring into the hum of a crowd.
Kai didn’t say more, later they would replay the conversation and try to mine it for all the information he could, for now, he breathed in and out, and focused on smoothly cycling his energy back and forth.
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“One can not scheme against High Priestess Li An; she didn’t get to her position in the Lunar Temple by being so easily fooled.” the black dragon's deep base echoed around the chamber.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“We are not scheming against her. If she claims to have seen a young soulforger from the Celestial Temple assist the Lunar Temple, it could not have been Sun Kai.” Elder Tai explained again, “If it wasn’t him, it must have been another.”
Wu Jin agreed with Tai Mu. “We still have two younger soul-forgers, they haven’t created their soul spaces yet, but should they be able to, we could send them to fulfill our negotiated obligation. And there are other measures we can take.”
The rest of the elder soulforgers nodded in agreement. The conversations continued but the plan was already in place. The rest was just the details. When the last of the business was done the elders departed, leaving in groups of two or three with Wu Jin being among the first.
Elder Tai Mu stayed behind, her eyes lingering on Sun Kai.
“You have been away too long honorable senior,” she spoke with respect.
Gao Jie swished his black tail as he approached the body. “It hasn’t been that long has it?”
“With every new year, our status declines. I know the Far-reacher must look like a desperate attempt to regain our former glory. We have put so many resources into it; he was our only success.”
“He was dangerous, if allowed to mature he might have destroyed us all. As much as it saddens me to admit it, his death may have spared us.”
The nine-tailed fox Elder turned to look at the black dragon, “We can’t progress without risk; you taught me that. You know as well as I that raising pet soulforgers like Wu Jin suggests will never return us to our rightful position.” Her demeanor was calm, like a peaceful lake, but her eyes were a storm of emotions.
The black dragon lowered his head and looked at his former student. “Everything has cycles, perhaps it is the Soul Hall’s time to decline. The day will come when it will rise again. But these unnatural schemes and petty games can only end in ruin.” He turned to look at the boy, sending out his spiritual awareness to examine him.
“He managed to form three cores; they are weak but fully formed. A soulforger in the condensation realm with three complete cores. Had he lived he would have been an inner disciple next year. He should be afforded the burial of an inner disciple.” The dragon turned to leave, “No matter how far we’ve fallen he was a soulforger of the Celestial Temple, he deserves that much.”
Mu Tai looked up at the black dragon, her eyes a bright jade green, and nodded.
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Using a band of silk he tied around his neck, Bai wiped the sweat from his brow. The sting of too many ruined talismans from stray drops of sweat had forged a habit of wiping his face even when he wasn’t crafting talismans, and he certainly wasn’t crafting talismans now. He stood in front of a grim sight; a body prepared for burial lay in a lacquered wooden box on the table before him. The body was wrapped in layers of purple silk, then dressed in the ceremonial robes of the Celestial Temple, and lastly draped with the earned merit sashes.
Bai couldn’t make out many details through the tightly wrapped silks, he couldn’t even tell if the body was of a boy or a girl. He could tell it was a child though, which made him all the more nervous. Nervous because he knew what the wrappings meant; the body was of an inner disciple of the Celestial Temple, who achieved the condensation realm and formed three cores. That was unusual enough, but the last merit sash, with its two-color seal embroidered from silver and gold thread, marked this as the body of a soulforger.
He stood there and looked at the body, and waited. He wondered if he had felt a pulse of spiritual energy; he was sure he had, but that was impossible. His eyes twitched down to the ceremonial robes, to the seal of the Soul Hall. Soulforgers were frightening cultivators; each one he’d ever been unfortunate enough to meet had terrified him.
He stood there in silence, his hair standing on end, a cold sweat on his brow. He wondered how he could be so unlucky as to have this as his first assignment after being raised to the intermediate rank in his department, and why had he been the one assigned this job.
He wiped his brow again, out of habit, but to much effect this time. When he felt nothing else after a long moment he quickly opened his book of talismans and picked out the right ones to ward spirits away, preserve flesh, seal the casket, and slow its degradation. With shaking hands he placed the talismans in place. One he placed on the body, his fingers shaking as he sent his energy to it, initializing the sigils. One he placed on the inner lid of the casket, starting it as well. That done he lowered the lid. He placed the final two on the outside of the casket, and initialize them.
Turning he bowed to the four outer disciples. Dressed in their ceremonial armor, they looked noble; the blue lacquered helms hid much of their features.
“This one has been honored to complete the final preparations,” Bai’s voice rang out.
One of the blue armored warriors stepped forward, “This one thanks you for your service.” Then turning toward the others they indicated it was time to take their positions. They quickly tied bands of purple silk around the casket, and more to form handles allowing them to bear it away in unison.
When they were gone Bai let out a breath he was holding.
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Kai sat on the dais in the central hub of his soul space and looked at the blank screen. He was able to see his body being wrapped in purple silks, but after the third layer, he lost all visual data. Tired of alternating the flow, he finally decided to allow his cores to begin filling back up.
“We need to work on sound somehow,” he said in frustration. “There has to be a way to detect sound using the God’s Eye Art, we just need to get creative.” Not being able to know what was going on, see where they were taking him, or tell what they were doing with him, the stress of it was mounting and he considered ridding himself of anxiety again.
He returned to the parchment before him and looked at the uncultured calligraphy of his own hand. Instead of purging his emotions, he chose to express them in a poem. It was unrefined and unremarkable, but he still felt better having completed it.
> 寂静如山
>
> 无忧无虑，似寻常。
>
> 日出日落，岁月匆匆。
>
> 岁月如梭，轻轻划过。
>
> 寂静如山，无尽的空虚。
>
> 无心无念，如逝去的风。
>
> 虽活着，却如行尸走肉。
>
> 悠悠岁月，终将化为尘土。
>
> 悔恨已迟，若不能改变。
>
> 便只能面对，遗憾和沉寂。
“Silent as a mountain,” he calmed himself and began to recite the poem.
“Carefree and casual, like an ordinary day.
Sunrise and sunset, time fleeting.
Time flies by lightly,
Silent as a mountain, endless emptiness.
Mindless and heedless, like a passing wind.
Although alive, like a walking dead.
Years go by, eventually turning into dust.
Regrets come too late, if one cannot change.
Then, one can only face the regrets and silence.”
Relay looked down from his seat on the control panel, his fluffy white ears flicking. “I have an idea about sound, but it is a rather small idea.”
Kai put the parchment down, looked over to the fox, and raised his eyebrow, “Tell me.”