If one were to grade the continent of Greengrass by how safe it was to live in, overall it would do poorly. Compared to the other landmasses, only the destroyed Rainworld had a greater concentration of spirit beasts.
Redsea to the north-east was entirely tamed, populous cities stretching across the flat coastal lands while the volcanic peaks were controlled by their imperial military. The other northern continent, Blackiron, was almost entirely barren; despite its sparse population, what settlements did exist had little to fear under the layers of protection provided by the holy city of Providence, the overwhelming strength of Devil’s Warden, and their own sprawling, mountainous environment.
Two Bells, the islands to the west, were a slightly better comparison. Covered mainly in heavy jungles, it was definitely lumped in with Greengrass as a provincial continent – but again, its population was lower, more concentrated. Its sects were able to shield the peasantry almost entirely from the wildlife, and indeed it was more likely for a citizen of Two Bells to find their life ended by the point of a sword than the jaws of a beast; their duelling culture was famously bloodthirsty, with its honourable skirmishes and blood feuds that reached down to even the mortal families.
Ah, I suppose the comparison isn’t entirely unflattering. Our large expanses of wilderness might be dangerous for travellers, but at least I don’t need to worry about being stabbed by a passing swordsman for something some forgotten ancestor of mine did a couple centuries ago.
A bump in the road elicited a metallic kuh-thunk as the suspension compensated adequately, not even a drop of tea spilling from his cup. And travelling by steam carriage, things are even safer. The noisy contraption had no horses to draw predatory eyes, and was fast enough to outspeed any curious beasts attracted to the sound. Civilised, too.
“I can’t believe you packed an entire tea set for our hunting trip,” Bull groused.
It was just the two of them inside, at the moment. Bo and Stingy couldn’t possibly fit, and Cobo preferred to stay with his countrymen. Jiendao was with Lan, who was driving, and Tai Sho was firmly barred from entry.
Lu raised his cup. “You packed tea as well, Bull.”
“I brought a few pressed cakes to add some flavour to water. You brought an entire set of pots, cups, and cutlery.”
“Oh, don’t complain. You’re drinking it, aren’t you?”
Bull replied with a snort. There was a pleasant pause in the argument as they both nursed their cups, before another bump in the road set things off again.
“Still, it doesn’t seem in the spirit of things. Where’s your sense of adventure?”
Lu raised a brow, gesturing vaguely at the surroundings. “Bull, we’re riding a steel behemoth built from alien technology through a deadly forest, towards another, even deadlier forest. I fail to see how the presence of a hot beverage changes that.” He drained his cup. “Besides, it isn’t like we’d be fighting for our lives even without all this. Let’s at least get west of Jade Green City before talking about adventure.”
Bull finished his own cup, seemingly conceding the point. He stood, and after a moment of fumbling with the over-built latching mechanism, opened the right side window.
“Hey big guy, anything going on out there?”
Lu leaned to the side, eventually dipping to a low enough angle to spot Bo’s vivid blue face poking over the side of the carriage, his features shadowed courtesy of the thick green hood protecting him from the sun.
“Nothing to report, Boss. Bird came up aside us a minute ago, but the lady chased it off.”
Bull made a pleased sound. “Good work. As you were.”
A salute, and Bo’s head disappeared with an accompanying lurch as his weight shifted the vehicle’s centre of gravity just slightly.
I can feel it so clearly, Lu thought with some amount of wonder. After discovering the ‘secret’ of gravity – which was a childish name, but not completely terrible he supposed – the acuity of his senses had doubled. Is this what it feels like to have a Path? I’ve been thinking of Comprehension as the ki equivalent of a cultivator’s Path, but putting everything in order it seems more appropriate to liken it to their version of the spiritual sense. Ah, I’ll have to redouble my efforts at cultivation to keep everything balanced.
Bull returned to his seat with a yawn, almost certainly for show, and the carriage continued to roll along in comparative peace. Lu made use of the time by opening a new scroll – after washing the dishes, of course – and kept half an ear on his companion as he read.
“It’s so boring, though.” If we didn’t have it you’d just be running. Who enjoys running? “But for real. You sure you’ve got enough room, even with all the crap you stuffed in? We won’t just be getting cores, but pelts, meat, organs…”
“Bull,” he tapped the purse at his side, “This thing is massive. I’ve got an entire spare carriage in there. I could probably live in it, if there were air and light.”
His friend’s brows rose. “That much? I’m surprised… It must be a real Elder-level treasure.”
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“Well, I did get it from an Elder, so that makes sense.” The recollection dipped his mood, but only slightly; the gloom of the many funerals had been emotionally taxing, but at the same time they had provided closure, at least for him. Winding Wind only mentioned the spirit stones, but the expanded space was the real treasure. Weapons, formations, pills… Most of the Elders who gave me those things, I’ll never be able to thank, even the ones who are still with us. But I can’t forget the generosity that’s allowed me to get this far. His hand closed on the purple velvet, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll have to disembark after today, since the road ends. You’ll get your adventure Bull, so enjoy the boring bit while it lasts.”
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There was a certain unreality that Jiendao felt, when she allowed her mind to wander. Like she had taken a step in a strange direction, and everything had tilted to sit at an unfamiliar angle.
Two weeks. I was out two weeks. The thought approached incredulity from both ends; in one sense it was too long, a mere sparring session stealing an important chunk of her life away, flinging her into the future past a stream of important happenings. On the other, it was barely anything – how could she have missed so much, in such a minuscule span of time?
White Knuckle was dead, along with basically the entire core of the sect’s leadership. The patriarch of the Jade Fire sect was dead, the inheriting disciples from Golden Sun, a dozen lesser sects were scrambling to find new heads to place on their shoulders…
The sky has changed colour. It seems like I should have been sleeping for a decade, for so much to happen.
The forest streamed past on both sides, faster than a horse could gallop. The machine under her was noisy, turned like a river barge, and was obviously not designed with the driver’s comfort in mind, but she couldn’t deny it was a massive feat of craftsmanship and ingenuity.
“Jiendao? Are you well?”
With a fondly annoyed sigh she turned her head left. And there’s another thing that’s changed. She had always enjoyed the way Lan had treated her; not quite distant, but definitely less affectionately than some men she had been involved with in the past. It suited her perfectly to have a man who let her go about her own business, but didn’t shy away when she wanted intimacy.
Now, after just a little accident, he seemed resolved to check in on her every other minute, asking after her mental state if she so much as frowned. It was… flattering, in its own way, but if he didn’t cool down and turn back into the man she had fallen for, it was likely she would lose her mind.
“Quite well. Look at the way the trees roll past – I’ve never been able to just sit and watch it.” We properly met after you saw me nearly cut in half, my dantian destroyed. This was barely anything in comparison.
He nodded. In his hands the reins jumped as they crested a hill, going slack then tightening again as they jostled at the impact. The hard seat under her seemed to carry the vibration directly into her pelvis – unlike the luxurious interior, the driver’s cabin wasn’t padded in the least. “Oh, I can’t agree more. I’ve ridden the normal carriages Lu produced, but this new version is at least twice as fast. Impressively so, considering the amount of armour he’s added.”
She smirked. “Were they this hard on the behind, too?”
He coughed, turning his head. “Ah, no. I believe he built this one for his personal use, and as such the construction is… lop-sided.”
A voice came from above, a booming, drawling sound that nonetheless somehow resolved into standard Imperial. “Seems fine from up here. There’s a nice wind, too.”
She looked up. “I’m sure. How did the check-in go?” The man blinked, his black eyes vacant, and she sighed again. “Never mind, I’ll do it.”
Her hand went up to her ear, fingertips brushing against the textured surface of a stud earring. There was a sound like the whine of a mosquito for the briefest moment, which resolved into a heavy breathing as heard through a narrow tube, somehow both startlingly close and extremely distant.
“Cobo here. Status normal. No hostiles observed, over.” She could easily imagine him, sprinting through the trees just slightly slower than the carriage, intermittently zipping forward through space to catch up.
“Jiendao receiving. No changes here; haven’t seen anything larger than a hawk.”
He grunted. “Jiendao? Where’s Bo?”
“He forgot about the check-in.” She attempted to convey the roll of her eyes through her voice, but it probably didn’t go through.
Another grunt. “Dumbass. Give him a kick for me. Anything else?”
“No. Ten more minutes and I’ll swap with you. Talk to you then.”
The whine cut out, and she looked up again. The shadowed silhouette against the off-blue sky shrunk back. “Cobo told me to kick you. Do I need to kick you?”
A mumbled “No ma’am,” followed by an even fainter “Not good at telling human time, yet. Sorry.”
“Well then don’t volunteer for communication duty.” She shook her head. “Seriously, I know we’re not in danger, but this is practise for when we get to the deep woods. Take it a little more seriously, please.”
The Saltworlder made an affirmative noise and pulled his head out of sight. Hah, I don’t understand why he’s so afraid of me. He’s an order of magnitude heavier, whether we’re measuring mass, or consumption.
She wasn’t sure how to feel about the giant. Stingy was easy to understand, an excitable child stuffed into a monstrous body, almost cute despite her sharp teeth and reptilian features. Cobo was a brooder, but shaped up the moment he had a job to do; he reminded her of some of her juniors- her former juniors, in the inner sect. Younger men who were hardened by life on the frontier despite their age, military discipline butting up against self-doubt and a stubborn need to do things their own way.
Bo, by contrast, was like a toddler – until an actual threat appeared, then he turned into a razor-sharp killer. The closest thing to danger they had encountered since they left was a single scraggly fox, and Bo had spotted it first; by the time she had moved her head enough to follow the arc of his movement, it had been cleanly decapitated by a thin disc of water.
Like a hunting dog, maybe. Or… no, I probably shouldn’t compare him to an animal. There’s no need to be degrading. Overall, the Salt warriors seemed a fairly reliable bunch – they were no core sect martial artists, but then again neither was she.
…Well, not yet at least, the sparks behind her eyes seemed to promise, tingling over the inside of her skull with a sensation that might have been unpleasant if it weren’t so reassuring.
“Are you certain you want to take Sir Cobo’s place? I could do it, while you hold the reins.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m feeling up to some exercise. I’m been lounging in bed, after all.”
Her joke made him wince, but a ghost of a smile tugged at his lips at the same time. He nudged her with his shoulder, his eyes returning to the road.
The soft expression smoothed out a knot in her heart, one she had barely noticed until it was gone. Her gaze lingered on his face for a moment, before she also went back to watching the forest.
It will be fine. He’s just scared – we’re all a little scared, even me. Even the Elders.
Maybe we won’t all make it through, but that just means we have to savour these quiet moments all the more.
All paths lead to Heaven… Even the ones that are cut short early. Above, the faint golden light mingled with pure blue to paint the sky a subtly strange colour, the sort one mightn't even notice, if they had watched it appear gradually.