Corwin Benedict
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The Beautiful Jade: Chapter 63
🕑 Added 2025-01-23 01:26:58 +0000 UTCA/N: Huzzah! First Chapter of Book 3.
I breathe deep, the qi in the air flowing through me. My meridians pulse with the shaping of the qi into my breath.
I hum softly as I exhale. The forest floor blooms into flowers, the life of spring arriving with exuberance. Then they fade softly, the flowers wilting, as a rot consumes them.
The flowers fall into dust with my inhale. The hum of my exhale brings new life into the surroundings as plants grow from the dead, only to fall again.
Music breathes my desire into the world, an illusionary cycle of life and death that stands only as a representation of the powerful forces it believes itself to be.
My qi races through me and I concentrate my thoughts as a blockage is cleared from my eleventh meridian. The qi flows smoothly into the new channel, officially making me an Eleventh Level Qi Awakened.
I open my eyes, the illusion disappearing from the surrounding forest.
Two young women stand guard, leaning against nearby trees. watching for spirit beasts or cultivators that would try and disturb the vulnerable moment.
The women wear blue and white robes with intricate patterns marking the sleeves. One woman wears a green fox mask, her hand on the sword at her waist. Xia Jing meets my gaze, her eyes playful, despite the months that they’d been making their way through the endless forest.
The second woman, Lai Ming, has a blue fox mask. Her eyes are cold, holding an ice to them that warms as she looks at me.
“Took you long enough.” Xia Jing says. She lifts her mask up to give me a smile. She’d reached the eleventh level a month before me.
We both know that my talent is still impressive, having reached this level at only seventeen years old, a full two years younger than her.
I ignore her comment as I stand up and stretch. I reach down to pick up my flute and my sword. “Have you found her yet?” I ask the tree above me as I tie my sword around my waist.
A large snake lowers her head to me from the canopy, her head as large as I am tall. Green scales cover her, with a crown of golden scales turning into lines that make their way down her body. She fully makes her way to the floor, growing smaller until she’s small enough to make her way up the sleeves of my robe. She wraps herself around my body with her head resting on my shoulder.
“She is close, a day away if I had to guess.” Shia says, her head lifted to look into the distance.
“What did she say?” Lai Ming asks. She does her own stretch as she pushes off of the tree she’d been leaning on.
“One more day, hopefully.” I answer. I know that Shia could let them hear her voice if she wanted to, but she prefers to only let me hear her.
My hand moves up to her head and pets her scales. I scratch a spot that I know she likes, my gaze rising to the cloudless sky above.
Sun filters through the canopy, creating several beams of light on the sparse forest floor. I take a deep breath, feeling my qi move through my body. One more meridian to open, and I’ll be ready to start my foundation. I remember when I left Ai with Shia’s sister, how I’d promised to myself that I’d become more powerful so that I could protect her on my own. What does that even mean? How much farther will I have to go before I have the strength to protect her?
“Are we going then?” Xia Jing asks.
I blink, focusing back on the two girls. “Yeah, sorry, I got lost in thought.”
I lead the way, Shia silently pointing me in the right direction as we make our way through the forest. The forest is strangely quiet, and I can only detect the spirit of smaller creatures and the trees. The first couple of weeks through the forest had been quiet, as The Fourth Sect hunted many of the more powerful spirit beasts of the forest, but as we got deeper we encountered more and more dangerous spirit beasts. Some we could avoid, while some of the wilder ones we were forced to bloody our swords on.
That makes the quiet of the forest now a welcome reprieve.
We step over a small stream and the atmosphere changes. The qi in the air thickens, while the spirit takes on an ancient quiet.
“Well, this is a surprise, darling daughter of mine.” A voice says from behind us. All at once, a spirit full of power, like a dagger ready to strike, washes over me.
I spin around, the other girls doing the same as they draw on their qi. A small old woman stands there, leaning against an intricately carved cane. The cane has the head of a cobra, with the flaps of the head extended, and teeth glistening, ready to strike. The woman herself would easily blend into a crowd, with simple clothing, grey hair, and a wrinkled face. Her eyes, however, hold a strength and craftiness that can’t be hidden by her exterior. As I look at her eyes, I see a flash of the thin, tall snake pupils that Shia and her sister share.
“Don’t be foolish, young ones.” Her words are quiet, but all three of us release the qi we’d been gathering immediately. Something about the woman tells us that we should not test her. “Smart. If it weren’t for the presence of my daughter, I would call you foolish for even being here.”
Shia slithers up my neck and rests her head on my head. “Hello Mother.”
The old woman appears in front of me, looking up to Shia. My breath catches, I hadn’t even seen the woman move. She walks around me, observing me and Shia.
“So this is what they reduced you to. Unable to transform, and forced to hide behind the spirit of a baby phoenix. At least you are healing. How?” The woman pauses, focusing on something I can’t see. “Oh?” She lets out a chuckle, “You’ve been consuming demons, and converting their dark spirit to your own. Smart, as any of my daughters should be.” Finally her eyes focus on me. “I suppose I can spare you, seeing as you’ve protected my daughter from the eyes of our hunters for so long. Come. Follow me.”
She doesn’t wait for a response as she walks through the woods, moving with the slow frailty of the old woman she looks like.
I feel as tension leaves Shia. “Be glad your spirit sense is still growing, little one. Otherwise you would not be able to move out of terror towards that woman.” She slides back into my robes, wrapping around my waist. “Best hurry after her.”
I don’t need more prodding to follow Shia’s advice. Xia Jing matches step with me, while Lai Ming holds back slightly. The old woman hums off tune to herself as she leads us deeper into the dense qi of the ancient forest.
“Could you see her move?” Xia Jing asks me after a few minutes of walking.
I shake my head.
“The earth itself doesn’t feel her presence.” Xia Jing adds, her eyes meeting mine. “If I couldn’t see her with my eyes, I would say there’s no one there.”
“Do you know where she’s leading us?” Lai Ming asks, matching step with us.
I look down to Shia under my robes, but she stays silent, so I shake my head again.
“I’m leading you to my home.” The old woman says, her voice sounding as if she’s right next to us rather than a few paces ahead.
We grow quiet at that. None of us had the impression that our conversation was private, still the omniscient presence of the old woman is intimidating. It wasn’t too long ago that I was in the presence of the High Inquisitor of the Fourth Sect. Her intimidation had been more direct, a constant sharp pressure. This woman, however, feels overwhelming.
I take a deep breath, letting the qi in the air soothe my worries as it flows through me and my meridians.
The forest soon gives away to old buildings, falling apart from neglect. Strange plants grow all around, and I’m reminded of my visit to the Immortal Garden where I’d left Ai.
The old woman leads us to a huge cave, lit by several stones filled to the brim with qi. They produce a soft golden light, which is enough to see the several doors placed into the walls of the cave.
The old women enters the cave, then waves her hand. The floor of the cave follows her movement, responding eagerly to her qi to make several chairs around a table.
“It’s been many years since I’ve hosted human cultivators.” The old woman mutters, as she walks over to one of the doors. “I have tea here somewhere.”
She disappears and the three of us share a look before moving over to the chairs and sitting down. The qi is still strong, but with the old monster gone, it starts to feel more calming than oppressive. My muscles, which had been tense from the many months of travel, start to relax.
The old woman returns holding a tray with a teapot and several teacups. “I hope younglings these days still like tea.” She says, giving all of us a small glare as she sets the tray down at the table. She picks up the teapot and pours the four of us tea.
I bow my head as she hands me a cup. Once she’s done giving the three of us teacups, she places a second cup in front of me. Shia slithers out through my sleeve, and wraps herself around the cup.
“Well then.” The woman says after we’ve had a few moments with our tea. “I doubt you’re here to see your dear old mother, Shia. Tell this old woman why you’ve brought cultivators to her doorstep.”
“I have missed you mother,” The woman lifts an eyebrow, but doesn’t interrupt as Shia continues, “but you are correct. That is not the reason I’m here. These younglings wish to make their way to their home realm.”
“Hmmmm.” The woman taps her cane, then she looks at me. “What of you?”
“What of me, Senior?” I ask, bowing my head out of respect.
“What are your plans with my daughter?” The woman asks. In another situation, I would be shocked by that question, but I recognize the seriousness in the old woman’s tone.
“She has been a friend. I hope to keep that friendship for as long as I can.” I respond.
The old woman leans back in her chair. “Do you know, little cultivator, that we once were respected friends of the humans?” She looks out the mouth of the cave, looking over the old, decrepit houses. “I was a guardian once, the greatest of guardians. Before the Immortal Gardens were forced to hide their treasures from the greed of humans.” She looks down at her cane. “Greed can twist the minds of the noblest of creatures, and fear is an even greater hindrance to the minds of men and women.” She takes a deep breath, her eyes closing slightly as she relives memories from long ago. “Now our kind are hunted, like beasts, like the demons we aligned ourselves against. My daughter has chosen you, but know this; there will come a time when your friendship with her is tested, where you will have to take the lives of your fellows in order to protect her. Are you prepared for that moment?” She opens her eyes, their shape fully that of a snake’s.
I take a deep breath as I hold her gaze. “I know that such decisions do not come easily, but I will not abandon Shia when such a time comes.”
“Good.” The woman smiles as she stands up, and begins to transform. Scales grow over her flesh as her mouth extends, and her body grows.
As she grows, I realize that she isn’t just a snake. A crown of gold scales grows over her head, and elegant wings grow out of her back. She hovers in the air, her eyes holding mine in a powerful promise.
Shia’s mother is a dragon.
“I will see you again. Keep yourselves safe until then.” The air twists as qi gathers to the woman, encircling us with an unfathomable amount of power. “I can only send you to your realm, you will have to make your way home from there.”
Reality twists as she directs her last words solely to me.
“Do not let the words of others decide your path, little one. Cultivation is a journey of forging your own way. It is only by your path, that you can find and create your dao.”
The world twists back and my feet touch the ground.
Shia makes her way to my robes and slithers up my leg, wrapping herself around my body.
The three of us are standing on a dirt road, looking over an unfamiliar city. The city itself is next to a large, slow moving river. Boats ride up and down the river, fishing, but there is a tenseness to the scene that I can’t put my finger on.
Xia Jing and Lai Ming both let out tense breaths. Xia Jing looks over to me and lets out a loud laugh, “You are one crazy girl. I was nearly pissing myself standing in front of that old monster.”
“Don’t be so vulgar.” Lai Ming says, her hand reaching out to lean against a tree next to the road. “But I’ve never experienced a pressure like that before.”
“I apologize for her, but she does not have much patience for human cultivators.” Shia says. Both girls look up to the snake. “If I wasn’t there, she would have eaten you all before you stepped foot into her home.”
Xia Jing lets out a giggle, then starts laughing. A moment later Lai Ming joins in.
I shake my head at both of them, but can’t stop myself from smiling.
