61. New Paths

  I was a bird. I flew through the air on thermals beside Jumper and the Tunrida, feeling the wind on my feathers and the heat of the thermals rising above the jungle.

  This was freedom. It was so tempting to put myself entirely into this avatar and leave behind my true body, but after hours of taking joy in the simple pleasure of flight, I bid my farewell to my feathered friends and dissipated the avatar, returning entirely to my body.

  One by one I did the same to all of my other avatars which were scattered through the jungles of Ker’tath. I had been held back by splitting myself before, but for what I needed to do now, I needed to be one.

  It would leave me vulnerable if I was attacked again by Ko Ren or his agents, but that did not matter.

  Holing myself up in a cave on the summit of my mountain, I closed my eyes.

  And I began to cultivate in earnest.

  Nine months had passed to the outside world, while three years had passed for me. A variable amount of time had passed for my disciples as I had sped or slowed time to keep them walking lockstep with each other.

  Together, we had grown. Fast. I had been ambitious when I said that all of my disciples would reach the Silver Path before the end of the year.

  I had fulfilled my promise.

  Now, it was time for me to cultivate a step higher than that.

  The power within my core roiled as I reflected on my life, looking at it from new angles and understanding my past path that had led me to be the person I was today.

  Slowly, my power began to rise.

  The golden path awaits.

  ~~~~~~~

  “When do you think it was?” Polkluk asked the others as they walked over the road. They were perhaps a day from Mer’cah by the way that mortals reckoned distance. They had already arrived by the way that cultivators of their caliber saw distances, having flared their Qi to announce their return for the scouts they had seen on the edges of the city’s territory.

  “Who can say?” Hien Ro said.

  “Little Bug can probably tell us exactly when it was,” Taimei pointed out. “But why didn’t we notice?”

  “We were too preoccupied with our own petty bullshit,” Hien Ro said.

  “I would not call the stresses of dying and being revived by a cultivator who is without equal ‘petty bullshit,’” Lukal Lukal said.

  “It hurt him to do that to us more than it hurt us,” Hien Ro said. “You all couldn’t tell but—”

  “We could tell,” Lahri said, one arm linked with her lover, Farun, and the other linked with her other lover, Arjun. “We could all tell, Hien Ro, and you know it.”

  Hien Ro was about to challenge her, but he stopped, knowing that she was right.

  There were no secrets that the disciples kept from each other. The first time they had entered the North Star Guiding Formation after he had reached his understanding of what the graduation test cost their master to perform, they had understood.

  Just as he had seen their own version of his understanding through their eyes, shaped by their own time and experience with Little Bug.

  “I think it was during the fifth battle,” Thaseus said. “There was a brief moment where … I do not remember, but I think that is when we crossed the line from bronze into silver. The graduation battles were so intense, but there was a clear demarcation between the fifth and the sixth where things became even more intense. When our battles began to truly shake the mountain and the rest of whatever bubble-magic it was that Little Bug confined us in for his magic to work.”

  The others reflected on the experience – an act which brought them pain as they once more felt the raw edges of the wounds on their souls that the graduation exam had instilled in them, and they reflected that Thaseus was probably right.

  That they had not noticed their evolution from Bronze Path cultivators into silver ranked ones was something they had never anticipated. Normally such advancement was heralded by a cultivator’s support system with great fanfare and reverence, as senior disciples became elders of the sect.

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  Little Bug hadn’t even commented on the advancement. He had simply pressed them harder than ever before, and they had been too preoccupied, emotionally and physically, to notice the difference within themselves.

  They continued to compare notes solemnly until the messenger arrived. A bronze path cultivator, the young man bowed reverently at the gathering of ten silver ranked souls and spoke cautiously.

  “Chairwoman of the Southern Unification Council Lady Tonilla and Patriarch of the Many Peaks Alliance humbly invite the disciples of Po Guah to their home to wash the dust of their path in the comfort of a hotspring and to discuss matters of great importance,” the messenger said.

  The others exchanged looks, and without a word or motion, came to a consensus. Hien Ro spoke for them.

  “We humbly accept.”

  ~~~~~

  After two hours of relaxation, the disciples dressed in fine robes while their own clothes were cleaned by the mortal servants and gathered in a parlor, where Pi Phon greeted them.

  It was strange for Hien Ro, who had once looked up to this man as his senior, to receive the humble respect that he now displayed at the difference between their ranks.

  Once he had bowed and everyone was seated, Pi Phon began to explain the situation within the city, which had changed considerably over the last few months that they had been in seclusion with Little Bug.

  “To begin with, you may wish to get in contact with your various sects and clans,” Pi Phon said, “but before that I believe you should understand a bit about the current political situation. As silver rankers now, you are yourselves significant political forces in this world. Especially with the legend of Little Bug continuing to grow. Once the word of your accomplishment spreads, jumping from the purification realm straight onto the silver path within a year, it will cause a surge of hope among the populace. You should begin planning how to capitalize on that momentum.”

  “And how does Lady Tonilla and Lord Di Ram, whoever that is, plan on capitalizing on our growth?” Thaseus questioned.

  “Who cares?” Xol asked, laying on his side nearby and licking a paw. “The lessers fear us and respect us, and we shall continue to inspire awe and fear as we continue to surpass our limits.”

  Pi Phon turned to the Jaguar, surprised that what he had thought was one of the disciple’s pets had spoken, but then he turned back to the human disciples and nodded. “They do plan on using you. As beacons of hope, if you’d let them. They hope that your master has prepared you for combat, because we can use warriors. And not just in the north. The undead have begun gathering elsewhere. Even now, the villages and hamlets throughout the jungles are emptying as the peasants and commoners rally to their overlords for protection. If we could announce your cooperation with some of the missions to take out some of these encampments, it would greatly increase morale.”

  “And what do we get out of this relationship?” Farun questioned.

  “The official backing of and membership in the Many Peaks Alliance, and the direct support of Di Ram and Lady Tonilla themselves of course,” Pi Phon answered. “And more. I’ll leave the negotiations to the lord and lady themselves, but I assure you that they will go to great lengths to get you to cooperate with their plans. They both understand and believe in mutually beneficial arrangements.”

  A current passed through the disciples, one which was perceptible even to an outsider like Pi Phon. The others looked to Thaseus a moment before he spoke.

  “When I left, my family was in ruins. We had suffered the vengeance of Tornolai for having interfered with the legitimacy of the tournament. How do they stand now?” he asked.

  “Your family’s efforts of rebuilding have been met with mixed success. Your father stepping down as patriarch relieved much of the pressure on your family, although the exact nature of the circumstances surrounding it are not officially spread. Your Uncle has assumed that position, but his efforts at rebuilding have been stifled by a variety of factors. I’m sorry to inform you that your family’s political power is a fraction of what it once was.”

  An eerie silence filled the room as once more Pi Phon felt a current pass between the disciples.

  “I believe we are still lacking a proper understanding of the situation,” Arjun suggested. “Why don’t you proceed to explain in greater details exactly what has changed in the last year, elder Pi Phon?”

  Pi Phon nodded at the respect this cultivator, who was younger but stronger than him, showed him, and he began to speak.

  “The remnants of Di Ram’s faction of the Six Mountain Sect reached the south approximately six months ago. They began building a city on the edge of the jungle, which is being named “Port Hope,” or Resh Fali. When you left, Lady Tonilla was in the process of transforming the council which oversaw the formation of the tournament into an investigatory body following the attack by Ko Ren on the city. These two forces have combined their efforts and formed what is being called the Many Peaks Alliance.”

  Pi Phon paused to consider his words. “The purpose of the Many Peaks Alliance is to gather the forces of the south and stand in opposition to the corruption which has led to the utter collapse of the northern continent. We have spent the lives of dozens of scouts investigating, but it is clear at this point that the north is lost. Our only hope, or so we thought at first, was to hold the undead at the isthmus between north and south. We have been gathering an army for that purpose for some time.

  “However, recently, the dead have begun rising in the south as well. Several leaders tried to suppress this fact, but while it isn’t terribly prevalent at the moment, one corpse in twenty will rise if it is not cremated. Whatever force is causing the spread of the undead seems to be growing stronger as time passes. We are taking steps to confront this by cremating everyone who passes away. There was some outrage when we began digging up the graveyards to do the same to the recently deceased who have been laid to rest, but this has been balanced by the fear of the undead.”

  He paused to take a sip of water from a glass that a servant handed him without being asked.

  “As for what this means for you? I’m afraid that there is a lot of hope that has been placed upon your shoulders. The legend among the commoners is that the Awakened Soul Po Guah will appear in the hour of darkest need and save the world, and that he will be heralded by his mortal apprentices. Now that you have returned, I’m, well, I’m not certain what will happen next.”

  The discussion continued for some time as the disciples asked more specific questions regarding their sects and the situation, which Pi Phon answered to the best of his ability.

  After an hour of discussion, Pi Phon retreated, along with the mortal servants, allowing the disciples to discuss their plans in private.

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