Higher realm cultivators have trouble procreating. This is a known fact, and the reasons why are obvious when one thinks about it for even a moment.
Most obviously, a high realm sex cell meeting a low realm one would be completely incompatible with its partner. Unlike thinking creatures, individual gametes have no ability to regulate their strength; a high realm egg cannot be penetrated by any number of low realm sperm, while high realm sperm completely destroy lower realm eggs.
But even if the realms of the couple are the same, the next problem occurs: menopause. While men produce sex cells as they are needed, a woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have; forty or fifty years’ worth, and no more.
Cultivators age slower, yes, but this is due to greater vitality. The cycles of their bodies are not unnatural – meaning that a woman who has aged past puberty will release an egg every month, whether she is first or tenth realm.
There are certain arts and treasures that can solve this, but most women either don’t think about the problem until it is too late, are generally uneducated about sexual matters beyond ‘man plus woman equals baby,’ or presume that they will not desire children in the future anyhow. And so the result: almost all female cultivators are barren by the time they decide to have children.
These are the obvious reasons, the ones that anyone with a basic grounding in biology would be able to puzzle out. But there is one more.
Qi is not perfectly distributed across the body, even if one’s spiritual veins are grown in an ideal manner. Parts of the body that are designed to be shed or expelled tend to see less of an enhancement from increases in realm – the nails, hair, and yes, the reproductive cells.
This on its own is not a problem – even if the fertilized egg is closer to mortality, so what? Mortals make more of themselves just fine. No, the problem is that the mother will be vastly stronger than her potential offspring. Its chances of adhering to her womb without her immune system casually destroying it is low – and unlike the menopause problem, modern medicine has yet to solve this issue.
But sometimes, the fertilized egg succeeds against all odds. Sometimes, two venerable Elders attempt to create a family, and succeed.
The result is a human with what is called a special constitution. Strange, often animalistic features or other mutations.
Some consider it a holy blessing. Others a terrible curse for going against the natural order.
Personally, Goldenseed is neutral on the issue. She does not consider herself either blessed or cursed; yes, people have treated her poorly due to her appearance… but that is simply how people are, not any sort of supernatural malevolence.
She is, barring some skin problems, a normal woman. And if anyone has any opinions to the contrary, they can keep those opinions to themselves.
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Lu wasn’t certain how useful the sect’s information on the Stingy and Jiendao situation was. On the one hand, it was at least attempting to be an unbiased account. But on the other it was woefully sparse – no other humans had been around to witness things, and the area was under enough anti-divination arts that viewing the past was impossible. So, there was only speculation and brief accounts from the few warriors who had deigned to speak. At least I can cross-reference this after I get the whole story out of Stingy. I don’t think she’d lie, but there’s no reason to be sloppy either.
Little Swamp Village sat on the opposite side of the mountain from the sect entrance, in a space that was particularly annoying to get to – it was still just a bit secret, after all. Not properly, otherwise Lu wouldn’t have paraded Bo around, but the exact extent to which the Steadfast Heart had ties to Salt wasn’t something for other sects to know. It made the journey enough of a pain that he was considering putting it off in favour of more spell research.
Ah, it was actually easier back when things were more tight-lipped; before the rescue mission I had to travel using the splinters, since the Elders didn’t want anyone to notice suspicious movements. I miss teleporting everywhere!
I don’t even have my super-speed flying treasure anymore… Nonetheless, Lu slipped through the invisible line of anti-divinations well before the sun began its fall down to the horizon. The village was exactly as deserted as it had appeared to be the previous day, and if any of Bo’s peers – or the man himself – were hiding under the muck, they didn’t decide to stop him from entering. He went from soggy ground to dry, most of his attention directed inwards.
But still, I would have expected there to be a little more to the report. Even without divinations, our disciples aren’t incompetent. And an Elder was involved – Braveheart wasn’t the inheriting disciple when thing’s started, but he was still a respected man of high means. How much must the clan have gotten in the way, for the investigation to have ground down to so slow a crawl?
Well, at least I don’t have a large pair of shoes to fill.
Empty streets contrasted the packed-full buildings, dense ki not quite penetrating the walls, but still somehow pungent to his senses. It almost felt like each wooden structure had come to life, breathing in and out as their organs squirmed under thick rigid skin. Lu shuddered at the image his brain had spat out, keeping his eyes to the path. Is that how it’s meant to feel? How they feel it, all the time? If he had had these senses back in Poison Swamp City, would he have been able to navigate with Comprehension alone?
The outskirts passed without incident, then the inner area where the houses had been obviously moved around. Finally, the moat separating the core of the village; Lu Water Walked over it as he had the previous day, before suddenly realising he had no idea which of the larger buildings Stingy was staying in.
Damn, these houses all look the same. Well, not quite, but- anyway, I wasn’t paying enough attention when Cobo led me around yesterday. Wait… Ah, would that work? I imagine it should be possible, I’m better at sensing internal ki now, even when it isn’t being actively moved…
Lu took a hesitant step towards a particularly tall building. It was decorated with hanging banners, but his memory stubbornly refused to recall whether it was the one he was looking for or not. But inside, he could feel it, the writhing ki.
It passed from one spot to the next, one man to the next, a continual flow not unlike a circulatory system. A ki circuit. Not quite the same as what I invented for myself, but it’s obviously using the same principles. Water, earth, something similar – let’s call it mud – ah, plants maybe? Definitely no Stingy, or Cobo for that matter.
The next building was the same, then the next. The one after was almost exclusively filled with a decaying-corpse-stink, not unlike Granny’s breath the last time he had seen her. Lu mentally marked that one down as the home of the remaining cult of rot and moved on.
Four houses down, he got a false alarm; a whiff of sharp energy caught his spiritual nose, but when he poked his head in he saw a thing a bit like a grub and a bit like an eel, curled around a dozen sharpies like they were its clutch of eggs.
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It – she? – turned her head towards the door, giving Lu a flash of entirely too many beady eyes set above mandibles that could tear an elk in two with one bite. A man, previously unnoticed, bristled and let loose a growling, angry-sounding bellow from… near, the abdominal region, and that was as far as Lu scrutinised.
“[Pardon, ma’am, I seem to have the wrong house.]” Of course, they would have some women left. I never saw any of them while I was in the city, but I can understand why they built the streets so wide, if they’re like this. She’s even bigger than Gnasher, though not quite on the level of Lady Stinger-Tail. “[I’ll, ah, leave you to it…]”
Mildly perturbed, Lu checked the next few building more thoroughly. Mixed elements, mostly earth, these ones are all water so they’re probably the Cult of Still Water, more mixed-together common soldiers… The Moving Waters Clan wasn’t nearly as diverse as Junk Dog had been; Lu picked out only maybe one in fifty men who weren’t some combination of earth, water, poison, and plantlife.
Well, it makes my search easier at least. Earth, more earth, mud and wood…
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When Lu found what seemed like the right dwelling, he triple-checked to make sure he wasn’t walking in on a stranger again. Mostly water and earth, as usual. But that incongruous bit, up on the second floor… Like the light glinting off polished steel. And just behind it, smaller, almost camouflaged, an indistinct smudge blending into the background – a place where ki flowed through the circuit, but with seemingly no man to flow through.
Yes, definitely. I’d stake my best set of robes on it. Tentatively, he opened the door. As expected, a pressed-together sea of bodies lay beyond, affronted noises building where the light of the sun seeped in.
Not recognising anyone, Lu chose a man at random and cast Interpreter. “[Pardon, I’d like to speak to Stingy again today. Is she available?]”
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They didn’t go to the whatever-it-was patch, today. Instead, Stingy led him and Cobo back out towards the moat.
Actually, I’m a little surprised Cobo’s still here. He usually trains with Bull in the mornings.
Stingy had apparently lost his tent – which was somewhat perplexing; how does one lose a piece of fabric the size of a small room? – and was covered in a layer of mud, while Cobo had the same black cowl covering his head. They were both silent, to a degree that Lu felt was somewhat stifling. Ah, it’s just a conversation, you know? It’s not like I’m going to bite your head off, I’ve already seen the result of what happened. She was also bereft of any translation treasure, though that wasn’t an issue; with his rapid ascent third realm spells were easier to cast than ever.
Maybe I’ll devise a fourth realm version. Hah, as if I’ll ever have the time!
They stopped in an unfamiliar spot, where the water flowed out into a small creek on the far shore. It was clearer, here, though it couldn’t hold a candle to the unnaturally clear waters of the lake back in Salt, or even the garden pool.
Lu cleared his throat. “[So, Stingy… Are you ready to speak with me? Get the whole story out?]”
She nodded, and after a moment began to speak.
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“So, what’s this about my consumption? It’s bad, somehow?”
Jiendao – no, that’s too long. Jinny is better – looked a lot like other humans. Black hair, pale skin, her head and the shape of her body no more distinct than her smell. For me, at least. They can tell each other apart just fine, so I’m sure there’s a trick to figure out.
It was much easier to recognise her by her clothing; a shaped tube of tanned hide, bright red, hugging the curve of her body unlike the more shapeless robes that her clansmen preferred. And even easier than that, the presence of a spiritual stomach sitting up high just under her lungs. It crackled, weakly, hungry for something it wasn’t getting.
Stingy scratched her neck, more to stall while she arranged her words than to ease the itch – though the necklace was itchy. “Your Comprehension. Consumption is the energy, Comprehension is what the energy means.”
Jinny raised one of her eyebrows. “And? Don’t stop talking without actually explaining.”
Her teeth slid across each other. “I…” I don’t know how to explain it! Mother’s lessons on how to teach sharpies this stuff was a whole two years ago! And I didn’t always pay attention! “Back in the Junk Pit, there was this brotherhood, the Cloud-Touchers. And this other brotherhood, the Mechanicals. Did Lu ever mention them?”
The brow stayed raised. “I’ve heard the names. Not much in the way of hard facts – though I fought a few of them in Salt, so I know a bit more than some others.” She paused. “Metal creatures too, if we’re looking at things that use lightning.”
“Oh, yeah! That’s a good place to start, though it isn’t quite the same with metal creatures since they don’t eat so… Anyway! That’s a good place to start! All those guys use electricity, but the way they use it, their understanding, is different!”
Jinny leaned against a scraggly tree, one of the twenty or so that surrounded the field. Stingy had tried to pick a drier one, a bit away from everything, and so far it seemed the human wouldn’t complain. “Again, the explanation?”
“Oh, right. Well, yours doesn’t feel like any of theirs. Which isn’t a bad thing! Mostly!” I should be feeling at least something a little familiar, since between the two they cast a pretty wide net- ah, but I need to make it simple! “But I can tell that the energy isn’t flowing right. It’s there, the power is there, but it doesn’t match your own understanding of it, so it doesn’t… move, in the right way.” This is harder than I thought it would be. I’ve never had to think about it before, it’s just been instinct my whole life.
As her Junk necklace turned her words into the human tongue, Jinny’s eyebrow finally went down. “Hmm. You’re sure? You can tell that just from looking?”
“Pretty sure, yeah. Those other three are too weak, but I can feel yours.”
The human bared her teeth in something like a smile. “Really? It didn’t seem like there was much difference between me and Kai. Can you tell me what I need to do to fix it?”
Stingy fidgeted. “Not really? It’s something that’s really personal. I could try and think of something though, if you explain what lightning means to you?”
Jinny was silent, for long enough that she thought she had maybe found where the rudeness line was. But then the woman straightened up, and Stingy felt a sort of shiver go through her, the same as when she fought Lu sometimes.
“What lightning means to me… Hah, that’s…” Another pause, almost as long, then she shook her head. “This is going to seem like a tangent, so bear with me.”
Stingy nodded. Good, I’ve got no idea what to say! Talk for as long as you want!
“A long time ago- no, before that, do you know why cultivators live on mountains?”
Uh. “I don’t! Something to do with the heavens?”
Another smile – Stingy would have called it sharp if humans didn’t all have manly flat teeth – came to Jinny’s face. “Hah, no. Well, in a poetic sort of way, but no. We live on mountains because mortals don’t live on mountains, because…” The smile went away. “Things can live for a long time without qi, but not forever. A long time ago, cultivators lived among the common people, but eventually the way they sucked all the qi out of everything caught up to them. The land went barren, for a really long time.
“After that, cultivators figured out that if they kept doing what they had been, it would happen again. So some cultivators decided to take from the atmosphere instead, and others went the opposite way and dug too deep to bother anyone. Those other guys aren’t really relevant so I’ll skip over them; what’s important is that the ones who stayed on the surface eventually started living on towers and mountains to make it easier to get at the higher-up qi.
“And since they lived way up high, they started to get struck by lightning every now and then.” Her smile returned, less sharp, more real. “And because people are superstitious, it turned into this whole thing. Isn’t that silly?”
Stingy didn’t know whether to agree or disagree, so she nodded. “I guess? People do silly things on Salt too.”
“I bet. Anyway, it wasn’t until after the Greengrass Emperor ascended that the practise of competing to get struck by lightning died down, but it never really went away as a… let’s call it a cultural undercurrent. If you get struck by lightning, people say you have Heaven’s blessing, even if they don’t mean it.”
“Do you mean it?” Jinny looked at her with her raised brow again, but she persisted. “No, really. This is actually really important!”
A third pause, the shortest so far. “I suppose I do. Not that I think the Emperors are actually striking people with lightning, that’s an old fairy tale. But… I think it means something. Enduring lightning, real natural lightning, is something only a strong cultivator can do. It’s a tribulation, a way to prove you’re as strong as you think you are.” She leaned back again, resting her weight on the thin tree. “Does that help?”
Stingy thought it over, her jaw working lightly. Lightning. Being up high, a test of strength. “I think so? Let’s do a little sparring, and I’ll see how your energy moves when you do a technique.”