Chapter 29
Zenith studied the four children, who stood nervously in the courtyard as their guardian abandoned them to the care of strangers. He sighed. It would take him some time to line up the finest tutors that he was obligated to arrange for his close friend, especially in light of the bounty that the man had given in payment. Observations of the Daos of the Bountiful Harvest and the Waters of Life were a rich prize to be handed out so freely, and the Emperor would insist on sparing no expense in earning such a reward.
Zenith sighed again. The Emperor would have to be informed of this development, but he’d see the children settled for the night first.
“Right then. Mankrik, take the boy in the orange robe to the Chamber of Ashes, and his sister to the Water Gardens. Orlia, Take the tall boy to the deepest chamber of the Vaults of the Crystal Veins. You, Tan, will follow me to the Soaring Tower.”
The children exchanged looks. “You’re splitting us up?” Pao asked, moving protectively in front of the other children.
“I assure you that if I meant you harm, it wouldn’t matter if you were separate or together,” Zenith said, amused at the child’s suspicion. “I am honor bound to further your education and cultivation, so I am showing you to the richest cultivation environments available to me for your aligned elements. It will take two days to line up suitable tutors, at which point you will be retrieved from your meditations and instructed on the path you follow.”
Pao continued to glare at him suspiciously for a moment, but the youngest child slapped him on the side of the head gently.
“Dad wouldn’t have left us with some creep who was going to hurt us, Pao,” Tan scolded. “Stop being weird.”
Pao pouted, but nodded. “Okay, fine,” and he allowed himself to be led away to the Vault of the Crystal Veins, deep beneath the palace.
Zenith grinned. It had been months since the last time a guest had been shown into any of the elemental focal points, and he had no doubt that the Qi that the children would encounter in their meditation chambers would be rich and thicker than anything they had ever encountered.
Hopefully they’d be able to take advantage of the development, but it was his responsibility only to ensure that they were provided with the finest opportunity that he could provide. The responsibility of grasping that opportunity rested with the children themselves.
The youngest boy followed Zenith obediently into the palace, where they journeyed briefly through the halls before climbing the twenty-three stories of the Soaring Tower. Zenith stood proudly at the, well, the zenith of the tower and looked out over the city and the lands beyond the city walls. This site always filled him with awe, and the wind Qi was indeed rich and thick in the gathering formations.
“You may cultivate for as long as you wish. You are very fortunate that I, myself, will be your personal tutor. I follow the Dao of the Eternal Breath. It differs slightly from the Dao of the Azure Skies, but you will benefit greatly from my insights I assure you,” Zenith told the child. “When you are ready to begin your lessons, simply ring this bell and I will send a servant to fetch you to me.”
“Right. Where’s the toilet?” the boy asked.
Zenith blinked in surprise. Oh, right, the child was still at the stage where such concerns were still … well, concerns. “It’s at the base of the tower, of course. I’ll show you.”
“Don’t bother,” the boy said, stepping up to the edge of the tower and undoing the front of his pants.
Zenith chuckled as the boy peed off the edge of the tower.
“Right, well, I hope you have a productive cultivation session, young master. Take the rest of the night, and as much of tomorrow as you wish. I will have an evening meal delivered to you in an hour or two, and you may sleep in the room on the floor directly beneath us. There is a chamber pot there as well that you may use if you don’t feel like pissing in the wind again. Tomorrow, when you are ready, I will begin your lessons.”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Okay, sounds good Mister Zenith,” Tan said, and he sat on the mat at the center of the gathering formation without requiring any further instruction.
Zenit watched the boy cultivate for a few moments, and he was privately impressed with just how much Qi the boy was absorbing. He nodded. Of course, if he was Tren’s child, whether by blood or by choice, then such things were only to be expected.
Leaving the child behind, Zenith returned to his office and began composing messages to the finest Earth, Fire, and Water scholars in the city. As he had promised, he would himself oversee the wind cultivator’s progress, although the tutors would also coordinate their lessons so that the entire group could benefit from the insights that the adults would attempt to impart in the children.
Once he had called in all of the favors that this situation required him to call in, he sighed, sending out the Qi messaging constructs, which flittered out of the window of his office like little hummingbirds. He grinned as they flew off, then he grew more serious.
It was time to inform the emperor of the day’s developments.
~~~~~~
“You may light the bonfire, young master,” the servant said, causing Won to jerk in surprise. He’d been overawed by his spiritual senses as he contemplated the sheer amount of fire Qi in the Chamber of Ashes.
The entire room was inside of the trunk of a massive tree. Not a living tree, but an ancient petrified one that rose through the heart of the palace. The interior had been scorched and burned out, leaving a pitch black interior that was rich with spirituality.
He glanced at the piles of wood, sensing within them the normal amount of fire Qi that all wood contained. It was a drop in the bucket compared to what was simply sitting in the ambient environment of this room, but he thanked the servant anyway and, with a wave of the hand, lit the fire.
To his surprise, runes and magical foci lit up on the edge of the wall, and both the temperature and the ambient Qi soared to a new height. He grinned, taking a seat on the mat in the center of the formation and began absorbing as much of the Qi as he could.
This night alone would make the entire journey worthwhile, he told himself, and he drank greedily of the fire around him.
~~~~~
There were sixteen lights in the Vault of the Crystal Veins, deep beneath the palace. Each was a magic crystal that was bright enough to light the room by themselves, but they came with a black velvet hood which could cover them entirely.
Each crystal was a different color. One fo them was filled with fire Qi and the light flickered and danced. Others were steady and constant. Others varied slowly from bright to dim.
The servant who showed Pao to the room explained that he should wait up to an hour after changing the light source to allow the ambient Qi to shift its nature to reflect the light that was being used, but the thirteen year old was having trouble focusing.
The room was … rich. It was beautiful, with quartz and precious gems embedded in the walls everywhere. And the Qi was … it was most intense.
He felt foolish over his earlier suspicion of the man who was overseeing his stay at the palace. If the man intended him or his friends harm, then he would not waste such a precious resource or opportunity on a mere farmer like Pao.
He spent a few moments selecting the lightsource that he wished to use, and chose one that shone bright yellow like the sun. He nodded, that light fit with his Dao of the Bountiful Harvest. He took a seat at the center of the room, and he began to cultivate.
~~~~~~
The Water Gardens were filled with fountains and the splashing sounds of water. The servant who escorted Ko into the focal point was explaining the history when she suddenly paused. There were children, practically naked and playing in the water.
“I am sorry,” Mankrik said. “The palace children love the Water Gardens, but I will have them sent away so that you are not disturbed while you cultivate.”
Ko watched the children play for a moment, then shook her head. “No, let them stay,” she said.
“Are you certain they will not disturb you?” the guard inquired.
“They might, but my mistress said that sometimes distractions in cultivation provide more progress than what can be achieved with an undivided mind,” Ko said. “And besides, it’s fun watching them play.”
“If you’re certain,” Mankrik said. He spent a moment informing her where she could sleep and arranging other necessities, such as her next meal and the location of the nearest toilet. Once he had left, Ko sat in the center of the gardens and began to cultivate.
Until one of the little brats splashed her. She opened her eyes and stared at the five year old boy, who grinned cheekily at her.
“Oh yeah?” she asked. “Well take this!”
She splashed the boy back. With magic. The boy shrieked as the water – cold water! - splashed him. Soon all of the children were in on it, trying to splash the powerful cultivator as she splashed them back with magic.