Dario spoke in a low voice as they crept through yet another alleyway, though he didn’t think the Reijuu could have possibly followed this far. He tested his leg again, feeling only a dull pain as he put weight on it. Nika’s healing pills were really working wonders.
“Most likely, those beasts were drawn in by that deafening crash of glass you caused. Evidently, they have evolved to make good use of the peculiar Ki of this floor - the beetles somehow using it as defense while those felines used it to strengthen their attacks. What I cannot yet explain is how an insect could possibly wield Ki which seems connected to human emotions.”
“No, I mean the test,” Dario hissed as they crawled through the back window of an empty house, slowly making their way down toward a large courtyard. Nika had spotted some familiar type of stone in the distance and wanted to check it out, though he wasn’t sure why. “It kicked me out, even though I said exactly what I wanted. Whole load of trogsh- err… nonsense. If it didn’t even let you pass, then I guess the damn thing must be broken for sure?”
“I have been contemplating the same,” Nika said before jumping onto a stone wall and reaching her hand down to pull Dario up as well. She landed nimbly on the other side with only the soft sound of feet touching stone, while Dario came down with a grunt, stumbling and placing a hand on the wall to steady himself.
“But one thing does not add up,” she continued, looking at Dario with a serious expression. “Namely, the color of the Ki. From what we have observed so far, this is a form of mental Ki, with each emotion somehow evoking a different color. Based on the assumption that this Ki is generated by our own feelings, it should be considered as directly connected to our own mental state. I don’t see how the Ki’s hue could be influenced by any external devices - the most obvious conclusion would be that its color is a part of its very nature.”
Dario frowned, scratching at his chin. “So basically what you’re saying is… If it looks like crap, then it must be crap?”
“What? That is not what I-” Nika began to object, mouth opening and closing a few times as she looked for the right words, until she let out a defeated sigh. “It seems that a brown color should be connected to a lie, yes.”
“But how could it know what’s true and what’s a lie? Is Tenjin himself watching to decide if what we’re saying is true?”
Nika considered that, mouth set in a hard line, before shaking her head. “The only theory that makes sense to me is that the color is determined by our own inner feelings. That is to say, if we feel angry, it may turn red, whereas if we feel that something is untrue…”
“So it’s not Tenjin, but a part of me that thinks it’s crap? That’s even worse! Besides, what I said wasn’t…” Dario protested, but the tightness in his stomach returned and the words stuck in his throat. He shook his head, letting out an annoyed sigh.
The two of them continued in silence for a while, brows deeply furrowed with frustration as they struggled to process what had happened. They passed through the courtyard, hopping over another wall, the top of which was covered in sharpened metal which Nika had to remove, until they finally found themselves in what seemed to be the abandoned garden of a villa.
Dario began to scan the plantlife, looking for higher concentrations of Ki, when he stopped himself. They’d spent nearly a day working through those tests. There wasn’t much time left, maybe two days at most.
“Wait, what are we actually doing here? We need to come up with a plan to pass that freaking test and get out of here.”
Nika didn’t respond to what he was saying, looking entirely focused on ripping ivy from a worn down and overgrown arch. To him, it looked like it might have been a gate some day. When she tore off a cluster of roots and sucked in a sharp breath, Dario moved to the side to be able to see what she was looking at.
It was a crest of some kind, four tilted squares lined up next to each so that they formed a larger square with their connected sides forming an ‘X’ in the center. Nika wiped the remaining soot off slowly, almost respectfully, then stared at the crest.
“Nika? What’s going on?”
“This is ours,” she breathed, eyes fixed on the worn images carved into the stone. “It’s the crest of the Houjo clan.”
“I don’t understand,” Dario said, looking deeply confused.
“I had wondered if…” Nika cut off, shaking her head before turning to the huge villa and setting her jaw. “I have to investigate this,” she said firmly, then promptly took off.
“But…” Dario said weakly to Nika’s back, but he knew there would be no point. She was not the kind of woman who’d be easily convinced, doubly so if it was something involving her clan. The concept of ancestors was kind of foreign to him - he hadn’t even known his grandparents - but if hers had lived here at some point, he could understand that she would want to look into it.
He let out a sigh, putting his hands on his hips as he looked around at the wild growths of plants that stretched all throughout the large garden.
“I suppose I should take the time to sit down and meditate on the complexity of my desires,” he said to no one in particular. But then his eyes caught a strong plant aura deeper in the bushes.
“Ooh, that one looks cool!”
Off he went, pushing through the thick vegetation to find a path to the source of green Ki. There was a huge diversity in plants, but most of them were too boring to bother picking up cuttings or seeds. When he passed a tree that bore round, green fruits, he plucked one off and after cutting it open and sniffing at it, decided to risk a bite.
“Mm, a bit tangy but also sweet. I don’t hate it,” he said, putting some of its black seeds into a pouch before moving on.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
There were some root vegetables that he recognized by their green fronds, so he pulled a few of those up and put them in his bag as well. Before long, he was deep into the bush, looking up at an impressive network of thorny vines. A flick of his nail against one of the vines showed it to be hard and surprisingly heavy. It would be best to consult the expert before he dove in any deeper, but when he dug his tablet out of his pack there was quite a lot of text waiting on the screen.
Hey adventureman, hope you’re still alive when you’re reading this. I got to speak to the old man I was telling you about. Turns out, he did remember stories about that floor, saying that it was supposed to be a grand and beautiful city, where cultivators used to go to get a certain kind of foundation. Something to do with aligning the body and Dao-Heart? Anyway, apparently it all got destroyed by a great plague. Stay safe down there!
Dario frowned.
A plague? Did he say anything more about the plague?
Yay, you’re alive! Umm, I think his exact words were ‘a great plague of ornery parasites’. He’s not the most talkative and tends to be a bit cryptic when he does speak.
He thought about that for a moment, wondering if that could somehow explain the beasts’ control over the strange mental Ki. Next time they killed one, they’d have to take a closer look at the corpse. But that was a worry for later.
After describing the plant in a lot of detail, he did get some useful information.
It’s known for its extremely tough bark and overall resilience, but since it grows so slowly, as in over decades, it’s usually never cultivated by people. The seeds are in the center, but you better be careful, because those thorns are extra sharp.
Dario looked back at the concentrated ball of green Ki near the center of the plant. So far, his ability to make vines grow quickly had come in handy, but he still needed a solution for his lack of offensive power.
With a nod, Dario began to put on some extra layers and prepared himself for a bit of rough work. Despite his love for shortcuts, it was a hard fact of life that the best treasures were never easy to get.
***
As Nika punched through the rotten wood of what once must have been a beautiful door, she considered that lately, she was being forced too often to think through uncomfortable theories.
The books that told of the ancient history of the great Houjo clan had never mentioned this floor. Yet here she was, walking the halls of what was undoubtedly a Houjo residence, left to wonder how this could be possible. If the intricate layering of limestone and obsidian as per the ancient methods of her Clan was not proof enough in itself, their crest was plastered all over the walls here.
The first theory - that Houjo ancestors had once lived here, but tragically perished during whatever upheaval had taken place here - was only slightly more comfortable than the second - that they had fled to a higher floor but for some reason kept it all a secret. Both of them posed the same question: how was it possible that not a single mention of this could be found in the clan annals?
She had read through most of those ancient tomes, their grand tales of virtue and victory stretching back hundreds of years, some of them including even such banal details as what a local clan head’s favorite types of food had been. Even if all of the Houjo residents on this floor had perished, some clan members on higher floors must have at least been aware.
She ran her fingers over the smooth joinery and beautifully intricate stone carvings adorning the inside walls as she considered the layout of the building. If this had been built like the other clan residences, there should be both a library and a vault. The library could have been placed anywhere, depending on the owner’s preference, but the vault…
Her eyes paused on the ceilings and walls as she strode quickly through the dilapidated rooms, looking for places where the walls were thicker, or where they didn’t join the ceiling in the usual way. There was a small inner courtyard, one section of which had subtle differences in style and structure - smaller windows, lack of a balcony, only a single staircase leading up. It would be highly defensible from an outside invasion.
As expected, it was there she finally found a lost space, the different thickness of what were supposed to be outer walls suggesting that something must be hidden. The old, long rotted wooden closets and paneling were easily ripped off and then she was staring at a familiar puzzle.
Only those trained in the art of manipulating the Ki of heavy minerals would be able to even attempt to open this lock. It was made of Boron - the hardest mineral under the Ceiling, barring only the indomitable crystal itself - and set into a door of the same smooth, dark gray material.
Hand on the lock, Nika got to work, chipping away at the static aura with her mental pickaxe before bringing it in through her skin and turning it into her own Ki that rolled through her seams. From there, it was just a matter of pushing the Ki back into the lock, filling the invisible holes in the old pattern of-
“Hm.” She frowned as she felt something off. The lock was supposed to be able to turn now, but there was something blocking it, thin as a toothpick…
She tried to thump the lock with her fist before moving more of her Ki in, but it didn’t work. Given the floor they were on, she considered for a moment whether there might be some application of mental Ki required, but then another idea occurred to her.
Closing her eyes to focus on how the inside of the lock felt to her senses, she then brought her Ki around the thin piece of Boron that was in the way. Even with her hand wrapped around the lock, it was nearly out of reach - her control was still limited to only a few centimeters beyond her skin.
Then, she applied her latest skill and began to leech away its hardness. It took considerably longer than breaking through an entire wall had, the Boron feeling like an endless well of hardness, but eventually there was a muted crack of stone on stone and the lock turned.
Her eyes lit up as she entered the ancient vault, but then disappointment settled in as she noticed the empty racks, containing only dust.
From how thoroughly this room had been emptied, the likelihood increased that the local clan members had taken all valuables and left for a higher floor. Still, she explored every corner of the small room, keeping her senses sharp just in case there was-
There. A tile that was slightly smaller than the rest, with an aura that was just a tad weaker. Something only a cultivator experienced with Boron was likely to notice. After a short attempt to carefully pull it up, she broke through one of the corners with a Ki-fortified finger and then lifted it up. Underneath, there was a small book, its covers clad in a thin layer of the smooth Boron. Nika opened it carefully, noting with a smile that the quality of the paper had degraded only slightly, so that it would still be readable.
In old lettering, the title read ‘Musings on Mass: Lessons from the Path of Heft’. That was… a peculiar title. Though there were more than a few separate cultivation manuals within the Houjo clan, she had never heard of this Path of Heft.
Before she had a chance to browse through the pages, the muted sound of footsteps had her turning back.
“Dario?”
When no answer came, she strode back to the vault entrance.
Standing in the hallway was a scrawny looking, white-haired old man, hands clasped behind his back as he flashed her a kind smile.
“Greetings, young lady.”