Immortal Connections - Chapter 56 preview

Chapter 56 - Wu Ying

"Do you wish to negotiate your payment?" Mother Ong asked, seated at her table, tea poured before the three. The entrance hallway had quickly turned into a simple visiting room where a dining table had been set, a tea set already prepared for their presence. All through the residence, plants hung or grew, filling the residence in a manner reminiscent of his old Master in many ways, if not for the numerous scuttling, furred bodies that traversed the ground in corners and through boltholes.

To buy himself time to think, Wu Ying picked up the tea, blew on the cup and sipped. His train of thought stopped for a brief moment, as he had to admire the tea itself. A part of him knew he should ask the details of the brew, that he should, perhaps, acquire a sample for his friend.

At some point, Tou He would arrive. He knew the man would do so - already, the Heavens knew of him after all. How could they not, when the monk had not just been touched by their lightning but then, had perverted the lightning itself to his own ends. The Heavens were not the kind to look away from such actions, though at least had, so far - chosen not to punish him.

Perhaps that would come, upon his arrival here.

More concerns for the future, and it would have to be for the future. Wu Ying had too much to handle in the here and now.

"I trust that Mother Ong best understands the needs of a new Ascendent like myself, one who wishes to further his experience in his occupation in the heavens." Wu Ying said, finally. "However, I do have one somewhat unusual requests."

"You'd be surprised," she said. "Most of your kinds unusual requests are not that uncommon."

"Including finding herbs or formations that might aid a mortal become immortal?" Wu Ying said.

"You know of the Immortal Peaches, do you not?"

"Those elevate one fully to immortality, but without furthering ones search for the dao. The one I seek to aid is already on the same cultivation path as myself," Wu Ying said. 

"And she does not desire to take the path of ease?"

"I do not believe so," Wu Ying said. 

"Why?"

Now it was his turn to hesistate, for they had never discussed the decision directly. It had just been a fact, that were he to rise, he would seek out aids for her cultivation journey. That he would find herbs and formations and whatever he could to make it possible for her to rise - but only by ascending 'properly'. It took him some time, to find the words to clarify what he was so certain about in his heart.

"The path of cultivation - soul or body - is a hard path. It is arduous and difficult, filled with cliffs and brambles and hidden dangers. Yet, in its travel, one grows. The path - when walked correctly - is not an easy one, yet it unburdens you of the portions of your soul that are unimportant to you. Beliefs that weigh one down, ill-conceived principles and dogmatic understandings formed by the pressures of society and parents and not the self." Wu Ying cocked his head to the side before continuing. "Is that not why we are stronger, us Ascendents? We are lighter, faster, more focused in this realm, because we have shaved away the parts that would burden us otherwise, in this merging of immortal soul and body."

“And those of us born here haven ever been tested in this way,” Ze Mu said, angry. “So we’re weak because we chose not to mutilate ourselves?”

“Rude,” Mother Ong muttered, shooting Ze Mu a look. “We do not describe what the Ascendents do to themselves like that in front of them.”

“Because it’s rude and not because it’s untrue?” Wu Ying said, amused. 

Mother Ong shrugged. “From a certain point of view, it is not a false description.”

Wu Ying grunted, and waved to Mother Ong. “Ask her what she thinks then, about our strength.”

“Ascendent Long is not wrong. His kind do come to the Heavens stronger than many of those who are born here.” Mother Ong cocked her head to the side, offering Wu Ying a thin smile. “It is, however, arguable whether it is but a difference in need and training. Like an athlete who has worked to improve themselves, like a farmer is stronger than the merchant, the Ascendents might be stronger because they have struggled.”

“As if our lives are that easy?”

“Compared to mortals?” Wu Ying scoffed. “Compared to mine or any other ascendents? Oh, yes, your lives are easy.” He reached out, touched his chest. “Tell me, how many times have you been run through?”

“By a sword?” Ze Mu said, a little horrified.

“Mostly.” Wu Ying considered. “Once by a spear too, but I do seem to get stabbed by swords mostly.”

“Madness doesn’t equate strength,” Ze Mu said.

“But strength does equate to strength. As I showed you.”

Ze Mu chose to ignore Wu Ying then, turning to Mother Ong instead. “Well, do you have an answer for our Ascendent’s lover? Do you have a way for her to progress further, to ascend to the heavens without giving herself up?”

Mother Ong stayed silent, busying herself with refilling their tea and then brewing a second pot. Wu Ying knew what her hesitation entailed, that she was using the time to consider her answer. Rather than rush her, he chose to partake in the almond cookies set aside, chewing on the crisp cookies and savouring the burst of butter and almond in his mouth.

“It’s possible. I have nothing like that with me, of course.” She gestured out the door, to the rooster that hung out in the back of the room, to the dog waiting patiently by the door and all her other animal companions. “They seek to ascend their own way, my own concoctions for them are but to allow them to progress more smoothly. All I have, as such, are rumors.”

“Any direction is better than none,” Wu Ying said, a flicker of interest rising within him.

“Then, here it is.” She turned a hand sideways. “Immortal peaches, of course would push others towards immortality, gifting them a temporary increase in their strength. Those raised by the Jade Emperor and his consort are the strongest of all. The drink of immortality brewed from their pulping and other herbs would raise one to immortality fully, without need for further consumption of the peaches.” 

Wu Ying listened patiently as she spoke of things he knew about already; certain she had a point.

“However, the peaches they raise are but a domesticated and pruned form of what is available in the wilds. They have been selected, over and over in the millennia to achieve a single, powerful purpose. The plants in the wild though, they have grown rampant in possibilities. It is said, that in the original forest that they peaches came from, a variety of other variants are available.” A slight smile at me then. “That is, of course, the rumor.”

“And where is this orchard of bountiful delights, Mother Ong? Somewhere in the thirtieth heavens?”

“Oh, no. just a few levels from us,” she gestured around her. Then, a flicker of a smile as she added. “Well, not here here, of course. But in this section of the heavens. After all, the initial peaches were nothing important.” A hand tilted sideways. “It is not what you need, in by itself; but you never know what you might find. Especially if you have a recipe for a pill or elixir of the right type.”

Wu Ying’s eyes narrowed.

“It so happens, of course, that I specialize in elixirs that push individuals towards the next step.” A shrug. “For beasts, of course; but a good apothecarist…”

“What do you wish for your recipes?” Tired of the leading questions, of the games being played, his voice was firm. 

“Well, now, my boy…” She stood up, waving him on. “That’s a conversation best had over dinner, don’t you think?”

Letting out a long sigh, Wu Ying muttered. “And I assume, I’m buying?”

Her laughter was the only answer that he received.