Chapter 40

Three adults sat in the bedroom of a wealthy merchant, standing vigil over the two children who were sleeping in the merchant’s bed. The girl slept peacefully and dreamless, recovering from her recent ordeal.

She was the reason they were there. Her parents had confirmed for themselves that Safron’s Qi block was vanquished in a treatment that should have been the first of many. That the Four Gates of Heaven Fate Defying Formation had performed its function was obvious. The question was the cost.

Safron would not have to pay it, they knew that much. The formation twisted the strings of fate to bring about the optimal fortune for the target, which was the girl. There was no downside for her; the formation itself twisted the ears of fate until the old crones submitted.

Curiously, the formation worked only on children, and only during monumental times in their lives. Half of the cultivators who knew of the formation regarded it as superstition. Anyone who had ever felt it activate and draw the power knew that it was not.

Cultivators had died, performing the Fate Defying Ritual. Drained themselves completely dry of their Qi when the formation suddenly activated and changed the fate of the child for the better. But not the fates of the ones who performed it.

Which is why the parents, and the children’s uncle, were less concerned about the miraculous healing of the one child and more concerned about the boy who had helped stand vigil over his sister.

The power drain had been intense. While the four elements were mostly balanced, however, it would have had to drain all four of the gates before it proved fatal to anyone, which is why the parents had thought that it would be safe to involve Tan in the ritual in the first place. If any of them died, then they would all die together, leaving behind only Safron, who would be fostered by Zenith until it was time for her to become the Empress of the Blue Dragon Empire.

The formation had taken much out of Tan, however, and he had collapsed early into it. The adults had covered for him for the remainder of the healing process, but they had known that he would survive because they would survive. And they were right.

But although both the boy and the girl would live, something remained troubling to them. A feeling that they could not place. When the boy began thrashing in his sleep, they grew more concerned. The mother went to comfort him, only to find that she could not wake him.

The boy muttered and raved in his sleep, shouting out “Zephyr! Zephyr! Zephyr where are you?”

Safron awoke, only to kick her brother for waking her. Tren scooped his daughter up, and the little girl went back to sleep in his arms, ignoring the plight of her big brother.

There was nothing that she could do for him anyway.

After a long and arduous nightmare, Tan calmed suddenly, and awoke a moment later. The bedsheets were damp with sweat, and his skin glistened as he sat up.

“Mom, Dad. Is Safron alright?” he asked calmly.

“She’s been cured, Tan. The formation worked.”

“I think we should perform an exorcism on her.” Tan said.

The adults didn’t question his judgment. He explained as they worked, drawing lines with chalk and salt and charcoal on the floors and walls of the bedroom. When he concluded the story of his dream, the parents had him stand in the center of the formation holding his sister while they chanted and empowered the array that could expel almost any demon or malicious spirit.

Nothing happened.

Tan breathed a sigh of relief once the ritual was over. He had no doubt in his mind that his father, mother and uncle working together could not defeat the demon which he had faced in his dreams. That meant that it had fled after it had failed to possess him.

His parents remained concerned, however.

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“Tan, did the demon say his name?”

“He said that he was my grandfather. His name was … Hao Shen, I think. Is that actually the name of my grandfather, or did I just make something up in my dream?” he asked.

“Hao Shen,” Renton said, laughing. “Yes, it was him alright.”

“This is most troublesome,” Wensho sighed.

“I don’t understand why you’re worried,” Tan said. “I defeated him, didn’t I? The demon?”

“That demon was probably the very real spirit of your grandfather, Tan. I’m glad that you fought him off, because he would have possessed you without remorse,” Tren said evenly. “However, fending him off in a dream is not the same as banishing him back into the afterlife. It seems that when we employed the Four Gates of Heaven Fate Defying Formation, he managed to truly open the gate between this world and the afterlife and claw his way back through it somehow.”

“He helped Safron, that’s how,” Wensho said. She shook her head in anger and disgust. “That pig wouldn’t have tried to possess her. He wouldn’t have stood for being a girl, and the formation wouldn’t have let him through if that had been his intention anyway. He’s the reason why the healing ritual worked beyond expectations. But it created a link between Safron and Hao, and then he jumped along that link to Tan. I do not believe for a second that he’s not still in this world, but he could have jumped to any of his other descendants who might not be as ready to defend themselves as Tan was.”

“He would choose a child if he can. The younger the better,” Tren said.

“And a boy child specifically,” Wensho reiterated.

“I don’t suppose you have any bastards you’ve been neglecting to tell us about?” Tren asked Renton.

“No. But I fear that there’s a greater problem,” Renton said, his heart heavy. “The Silver Dragon’s claim of being Father’s bastard grandson are true. Father had perhaps a hundred byblows over the years, and more than a few of them lived long enough to have children or grandchildren of their own. Hao likely preferred Tan because of his advanced cultivation, but I doubt he’s in lingering danger now that he’s fended him off once. But I do not know what to do about the others whom he might attempt to possess.”

“Send them exorcists, of course,” Tren said flatly.

“I mean that I don’t know who or where they are,” Renton replied. “And I probably won’t until the child that Hao has infected grows up and becomes a menace.”

“So what do we do?” Wensho asks.

The adults exchanged looks, and their looks showed plain that none of them knew the answer.

“Tan, you can track him,” Zephyr said suddenly.

“What?” Tan asked, surprising the adults, as they couldn’t hear Zephyr’s voice like he could.

“The demon that your grandfather became bled in your mind, Tan. In your soul . You can use this as a compass to find anyone who has been possessed by him, with the right ritual. But it isn’t something that you can perform on your own, I think,” she explained.

Tan frowned and repeated her words to the adults, who exchanged looks.

“Does your spirit know the name of this ritual?” Renton asked.

“The Candleflame’s Shadow Lights the Path,” Zephyr said, and then Tan relayed.

“Never heard of it,” Renton admitted. “But I’ll have the imperial servants search the archives for it. I’ll reach out to Zenith as well.”

Tan was quiet for a moment as the adults planned around him. Then abruptly, as they were discussing whether a large scale exorcism ritual might not be in order, he asked “Who was my grandfather?”

His parents exchanged looks. Renton sighed and took the once-more-sleeping Safron in his arms, then carried her out of the room. While he was family, this was a conversation that his parents needed to have alone with their oldest son, and it wouldn’t do for Safron to wake up early and overhear it.

Once Tan was alone with his mother and father, they told him who he was. Who his uncle really was. Who his father had been once upon a time, and who his grandfather had been for a very long time.

Tan looked between his mother and his father as they spun him this tale. When the finished, he said two words.

“Nuh-uh!”

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