Vessel of Worlds

Andy heard her out and found himself at a loss for words of comfort. The matter touched on her family's private calamity, and it was hardly his place to pry.

Fortunately, the girl recovered from her grief quickly and smiled. "Forgive Mengli's lapse—how embarrassing. Now, Brother Zhao: feed a little spiritual power into the blue flag in your hand, then strike the activation seal into this spot..."

Andy followed her instructions at once, working the two formation flags, driving seal after seal into the utterly ordinary-looking barren hillside before him.

Before long, to his surprise, a faint, nearly transparent colorless curtain of light appeared where his strikes had landed. It was almost impossible to perceive at first, but as he pressed the attack with the flags, the curtain thickened and its color deepened, until at last a pale yellow curtain a zhang across stood revealed.

By then the white-clad girl held a blue jade plate a chi across, driving seals into it in a steady stream. The great array she had laid earlier began emitting finger-thick beams of blue light that wove together a dozen zhang above it, converging into a single massive pillar as thick as a bowl's mouth, which slammed into the pale yellow curtain. The collision thundered out with deafening force, the spectacle truly formidable.

Yet from a hundred zhang above the barren island, nothing could be seen and no unusual sound heard—the work of the green-dressed girl operating the concealment array nearby, masking the formation's enormous fluctuations into nothing. Even if some cultivator happened to fly past, he would detect no anomaly at all.

Beam after beam of blue light poured into the pale yellow curtain, gradually tearing open a breach a chi long—and the breach kept widening. Half an hour later it measured several chi across: barely enough for one person to pass.

"Done at last! Xiao Ying, keep watch over the array here. Brother Zhao—let's go in!" the white-clad girl said with a smile, tossing the control plate to the green-dressed girl. And to forestall any suspicion on Andy's part, she stepped forward first and slipped through the breach herself.

Andy followed her in—though in the instant before crossing, he sheathed himself in a thin veil of purple light. Once through, sensing no danger, he dismissed it immediately.

"Brother Zhao's protective barrier seems most unusual—Mengli's learning must be too shallow, for I've never seen its like!" Fast as Andy had been, the girl had caught a glimpse.

"A trifling trick, not worth discussing," Andy said with a smile.

Since he chose not to elaborate, the girl knew better than to press and embarrass herself. The cultivation world overflowed with strange arts beyond counting; that she hadn't seen one was nothing remarkable.

"This way, Brother Zhao." She moved off lightly, threading between the rocks.

Andy found the scenery transformed on this side of the breach. The hills were still barren—but now they were heaped entirely of black stone, without a blade of grass.

His spiritual sense, too, was sharply constrained, reaching no more than a hundred zhang around him.

But he soon sensed it: on a slope some dozens of zhang away stood a simple gate, and beyond it a passage of unfathomable depth.

Sure enough, the girl led him through the gate and into the passage.

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Andy followed a dozen zhang behind her, advancing slowly.

The passage wound steadily downward. After several hundred zhang, the two arrived at a rough cave dwelling.

Calling it a dwelling was generous. It was a stone cavern only a few dozen zhang across; apart from a restriction curtain over a zhang wide set into the innermost wall, the surrounding rock had been excavated with the crudest of workmanship—all angles and juts, deeply uneven. The only furnishings were a roughly hewn stone platform against one wall and two beast-hide rugs on the floor. Nothing else at all.

"Is this the restriction that admits only male cultivators?" Andy asked, pointing at the inner wall.

"Not that one. That's just an ordinary dwelling ward—the commonest sort of restriction among ancient cultivators. It affects only cultivators meeting certain conditions. This particular one poses no obstacle whatsoever to anyone at Foundation Establishment or below." The girl had removed her veil by now, and explained with a smile.

Andy forcibly dragged his gaze from her peerless face to the light curtain. "I see."

Again the girl took the lead, stepping through the barrier first.

Andy drew on his thin veil of purple light and followed through to the other side.

And there—glittering, refined beyond the ordinary, breathing a faint sweet fragrance—stretched a great hall several hundred zhang across. Antique tables, chairs, beds, and stools of exquisite carving stood in full array; the silk hangings and gauze curtains ran chiefly to pink. Unmistakably a female cultivator's dwelling—exactly as the girl had described.

Andy's eye caught on an enormous bronze mirror standing over a zhang tall—a fine high-grade artifact wrought entirely of purple-gold bronze. Its face was flawlessly smooth and bore not a mote of dust; however many thousands of years it had stood here, it still shone bright enough to hold a reflection.

Beyond that, the hall held nothing remarkable—only the common artifacts of any dwelling, and ordinary worldly things.

"So this is the ancient female cultivator's dwelling you spoke of. Beautiful indeed—and full of character," Andy said, smiling.

Set beside this place, Recluse Ximen's dwelling was a tumbledown straw hut.

"Yes—this is it," the girl confirmed with a nod.

She crossed to a sandalwood table of antique design and exquisite carving and gently turned a jade-green vase that stood upon it. A series of soft clicks sounded, and one wall of the hall slid slowly aside, revealing a light curtain a zhang across.

Another restriction curtain, Andy thought wryly. Why did these mighty ancients so love to salt their dwellings with restrictions to torment posterity?

Though on reflection, it was natural enough. If his own passing ever drew near, he would certainly not hand the small bowl to just anyone. Laying restrictions and arrays so that only a fated one meeting his conditions could claim his legacy—perhaps that was its own kind of consolation before the end.

The cultivation world held examples beyond counting of ancestors' treasures discovered—yet against the ancient sites still lying unfound, they were a single hair from nine oxen.

Now the girl spoke gravely: "Brother Zhao, this is the restriction that admits only male cultivators. Once through it, you should have little trouble finding the method Mengli needs. As for what lies beyond that curtain—smooth road or hidden danger—Mengli truly cannot say. But with your abilities, it should pose no problem. And if Brother Zhao wishes to withdraw even now, Mengli would not dream of insisting."

Andy had long since considered all this and settled his plans—but that the girl laid out the stakes so honestly at the final step, holding nothing back, spoke well of her intentions, and warmed him to her further.

He smiled. "Having come this far—for that Heart-Cleansing Pill, I'll take my chances."

"Then great kindness admits no thanks—please accept this bow from a grateful girl!" She bent in a deep, formal courtesy, utterly sincere.

"You're too kind, Fairy. I do this for the Heart-Cleansing Pill—speak no more of debts." Andy returned the salute, then turned toward the restriction.

"Brother Zhao—one moment!" The girl called him back and tossed him a red handkerchief, light as a breath. "This is a peak-grade artifact Mengli often carries. Its defenses have certain unique points. May it lend your errand a measure of strength."

"My thanks, Fairy." Andy swept the handkerchief with a swift, careful pass of spiritual sense, then accepted it into his storage pouch.

"If seven days of searching turn up no clue at all, please simply come back," she added.

"Agreed—as you say." Andy affixed several talismans to himself and walked slowly into the curtain of light.

He met no resistance whatsoever—he satisfied the restriction's conditions perfectly, it seemed.

But what opened before his eyes was no longer any richly colored lady's dwelling—it was a narrow passage stretching farther than the eye could see.