Leaving A Legacy

The rush of battle was quickly fading from Ren’s mind as he started to realize the mess he had gotten himself involved in. It wasn’t like him to be so quick to anger. No doubt he would have stood with his brother in the event that fighting was inevitable, but he would normally have done his best to pacify both sides first. Now this young master before them had pulled out a terrifying artifact, and it looked like it was past the point of reconciliation.

Recognizing the futility of further talk, Ren gathered enough qi and was just about to launch into his strongest attack to prevent the young master from activating the artifact when everything froze. He couldn’t move a muscle, and even the qi in his meridians flowed like sludge. He heard footsteps from behind him, and he heard a familiar voice say,

“Good, good, good! Just which juniors dare to kick up such a fuss in my Heavenly Sword Sect and disturb my precious reading time?!”

So stunned was Ren that his thoughts faltered. Unable to even turn and look, all he could think was, ‘If only the others knew what book the elder had probably been reading! Are we really going to get in trouble for interrupting the Elder during another of Lady Frozen Tear’s torrid adventures?’

His rambling thoughts halted when Elder Yun Peng made his way into his line of sight. The normally mild and disinterested look was nowhere to be seen. Ren had never seen the elder looking this furious before, and it terrified him. It was the worst way to confirm his theories that the elder was a hidden master. The only reason he wasn’t trembling was because Elder Yun Peng’s ire wasn’t directed at any of the 3 culprits here.

“Get out here, dog of the Cheng clan! You dare mock my Heavenly Sword Sect?! You think you can act as you please here without consequence?! Show yourself!” He addressed an empty spot. When nothing happened, he waved his hand, and a thin man in dark robes appeared out of thin air and fell to his knees before the elder, panting heavily.

Ren was confused about what was happening, so he just kept his mouth shut and prayed the normally mild-mannered elder wouldn’t turn that cold rage on him.

“Who your clan gives its treasures to is your business. But you should have taught the fool better or, at the very least, stopped him. Through your inaction, you’ve permitted it when he dared use it against fellow disciples. The Cheng clan seems to have forgotten the immensity of the heavens if you think you can get away with this! Give yourself a slap, then report to Elder Sha in the Hall of Discipline and faithfully recount what happened here.”

The last sentence was spoken in a voice that could chop nails and sever iron. The thin man, Ren surmised to be the young master’s Dao Guardian, said not a word but slowly raised a hand. No one could say he held back with the thunderous slap he gave himself, even spitting blood. Then he vanished, taking with him the instigator behind this conflict, the Cheng clan’s young master, and that artifact.

Finally, Ren felt the restrictions on him lift, allowing him to move. But he knew better than to think the danger was past. He looked around and saw the crowd had been permitted to flee, and it was only the three of them standing amidst a pile of groaning lackeys who had been abandoned. It was small consolation that there weren’t any witnesses to the humiliation, as Ren knew an enmity had been sown here. He could only guess at the elder’s intentions as to why he chose to handle the matter this way.

Elder Yun turned and addressed Bao Hua. “The discipline hall has been notified and will be here soon. Watch over these brats for me until they arrive. Don’t fret, lad; you were only defending yourself. Give an honest accounting of the matter, and I doubt you shall be punished.”

He then turned to Ren and looked him over without saying a word. After a few moments, he let out a small sigh and said, “Follow me, young Ren, if you would indulge an old man.” Then he turned and walked toward the tall pagoda that was the Hall of Scripture without looking back.

Ren only hesitated a moment, and then after a quick nod to Hua, he hurried after the elder. Once he caught up, he just followed behind him, unsure how to break the silence. The elder walked unhurriedly to the entrance of the pagoda. Then he led Ren up the stairs to the second floor. Unlike the first time Ren had seen it, it was as still as a tomb. No objects were flying around, and no messy piles lay on the shelves, which were instead mostly bare now.

There was a beautiful wood table on one side with a tea set on it. There was also a book that vanished a moment later as Elder Yun Peng gestured to him to sit and began to prepare fresh tea. He prepared it slowly, by hand, only using an array to heat the water. Ren noticed it was similar to a ritualistic set of movements some used to settle their thoughts. Even to his amateur eyes, each motion looked extremely refined and steady. When the tea began to steep, Ren lost himself in that sweet aroma, and his mouth began to water in anticipation.

He broke out of the trance when the elder poured him a cup and pushed it toward him. He took a sip after appreciating the aroma some more and marveled at the taste. His shoulders relaxed as if some weight had fallen away, and he sighed deeply. When he finally opened his eyes, he noticed a small smile on the elder’s face. Ren blushed at how easily he had been captivated by the tea and forgotten himself.

The elder finally broke the silence and spoke, “I’ve been keeping an eye on you and your progress for a while now. Ever since you chose to take that manual. You’ve taken up an unusual path for yourself, but what’s crucial is that you’ve been walking on it with conviction. I have watched you build your challenges and breathe new life into the sect.

The sect shook off some of the rust, and the positive cycle you helped set in motion drew in those abandoned by fate and gave them another chance. At your stage you cannot possibly begin to understand the impact but know that what you have wrought is beyond impressive.

There are many ways you could have gone about it, but both your actions and their outcomes have been pleasing. I heartily approve of your methods. So much so that I’ve guided away some problems before they could rise just to see how far you could go. What? Did you simply think no one noticed you rearranging the dragon veins under you mountain?”

Ren sat frozen, the cup halfway to his mouth as the elder heaped genuine praise as if he were discussing the weather.

'And how long has the elder been helping me behind the scenes? I thought I was being cautious? Wait, does he know about the challenges? Is he why the sect hasn't made any moves against me?' Ren didn't know what to think of this absurd situation.

Elder Yun only smiled slyly before continuing. “I’m sure you had your guesses that I too practice karmic cultivation. What you couldn’t know is that I failed to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, the realm after core formation. I was severely injured by the tribulation and have been in a state of steady decline ever since. Fate works in funny ways sometimes. Because it was not long after my failed ascension that I encountered the demonic monk terrorizing mortal kingdoms while traveling here. The corrupted manual that I retrieved from his corpse could have been the one thing that might have allowed me to succeed in my breakthrough. Alas, it was not meant to be.”

As confused as Ren was by how talkative the elder was being, he knew exactly which monk and which manual the elder was referring to. It was the Causality of Karma, the manual he currently practiced!

The demonic monk had succumbed to a heart demon and twisted the manual to instead steal providence from mortals. He had compensated for the meager providence of an ordinary mortal by involving many kingdoms' worth of them. But he had no idea that the elder had a hand in his death!

“Its origins were obscured, and the manual itself was contaminated by that demon's unfiltered urges. I was the one who tore it apart and tried to rework it into something resembling its original, but to no avail. It had already been modified many times before the monk got his hands on it. Still, the version I ended up with helped me stabilize my injured foundations and granted me a few more decades of life. It is quite different from what you put together for yourself, but that is a good thing in my opinion. Perhaps that is exactly what it needs. A fresh start.”

At this, the elder fell silent once again. Ren didn’t know what to do with all this information and resorted to sipping his tea. Best not to speak and break the elder’s flow and its possible implications. The elder shook his head lightly and then poured Ren some more tea.

“Forgive an old man his rambling. I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m telling you all this. Let me state it clearly, I’m not accepting you as my personal disciple.” He said not ungently.

Ren was slightly hurt even if he had harbored no such expectations. Some small part of him had hoped against hope that this was a life changing cup of tea. But he knew better than to complain or beg, so he remained silent.

Elder Yun continued, “I’m telling you this because it is time. My intuition says you need to know, and one does not reach my previous heights by ignoring one’s instincts. There’s no point in worshiping a walking corpse as master, but you can still learn from my mistakes. How strange that after years of searching, I find a possible successor just when I had given up!” He said with a light scoff.

“Things have gotten messy lately. It has given many certain ideas beyond their reach. Man’s greed has ever been boundless. That’s why I had to kill that chicken earlier to scatter the monkeys. An example had to be made.” Elder Yun said with a vicious look in his eyes.

Ren didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry when he heard that Dao Guardian be referred to as a chicken.

“There are some things you need to know, Young Ren, if you are to keep walking this path. At the end of this conversation, I have no doubt you will wish you had never heard this, but it is vital that you do. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. But perhaps the heavens have something in mind for you.” Ren didn’t like the look of pity in the elder’s eyes when he said this. He was getting ready to stand and run when the elder continued.

“Still, balance must be maintained. The coming events will no doubt bring you much trouble, so naturally, I must compensate you. If you hear me out till the end, I will give you a body cultivation manual that is extremely suited to you and your cultivation. You may also ask me 3 questions that I will answer within reasonable limits. So... will you stay and listen?” His cryptic gaze was penetrating but there was something hesitant in his voice.

Ren who had been all but ready to run a few breaths ago was paralyzed by indecision. A part of him wanted nothing to do with the promised trouble and simply return to his mountain and grow herbs in peace. But the realistic part of him knew that it wasn’t really a choice. He was already involved.

He extended the cup toward the elder, who gave a kind smile and poured him some more. The tea was still piping hot from the array, and Ren found that the longer the tea leaves had steeped, the more nuances were released into the tea. But with all these major revelations thrust upon him, he couldn’t spare a thought to ponder deeper on any insights the tea might provide.

The elder sipped his own cup and then began with his momentous revelations, “It isn’t known to many, but the Heavenly Sword Sect is on the precipice of disaster.”