Druidic Cultivation | Interlude One

This will be placed between chapters 29 and 30. It's a bit of backstory for his grandfather and mother, as well as the crouching grass in general. meant to write it a while ago but life got in the way. 

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As the carriage slowly rolled on top of the Feng Family’s Banded Plateau, Kiya let out a heavy sigh from where he sat in the carriage driver’s seat. He’d spent the last few months following his grandson through the woods as well as escorting his son and grandson both here. The Banded Plateau, the “ancestral home” of the Fengs. A strange name, considering they were new to their money as well as new to the mountain.

It wasn’t his first time at the plateau and he was sure it wouldn’t be his last, unfortunately. Gritting his teeth, Kiya thought back to every time he’d visited in the past and how hard the Fengs pushed his patience each time. Everything about this place annoyed Kiya on a spiritual level, almost literally, and if it weren’t for his progeny, he’d never set foot there again.

“This is Sünfeng, the southernmost of the four cardinal cities on Banded Plateau.” Kiya could hear his son, Zhipei explaining to his grandson on the other side of the carriage. “Your great-great-grandmother was born and raised here.” From what his Xiaoke had told him, that truly was the case but it wasn’t as simple as a woman leaving home to found a village of her own volition.

“Alrighty then, little Zhipei and little Jiao. Old man Kiya is off to find his lover, see you all later!” As soon as the carriage safely arrived within town, Kiya hopped off his driver’s seat and set off. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy talking to his progeny or spending time with them, just that he didn’t really know how. That is why he spent a month watching his grandson secretly, watching over him from the shadows to make sure he didn’t come to any harm.

The little Jiao’er had a couple close calls, of course, but Kiya was always there making sure that he didn’t get severely injured or die. Close calls? Those were always within an acceptable range, without strife a wildflower couldn’t truly flourish after all. About a week before Jiao had finished his training, Kiya left him to commission the leaf-bladed spear his grandson now used, or would use he supposed.

“Ah ha, the Green Pill. Just the alchemist I was looking for.” After wandering around the loosely packed mainstreet for a few minutes, Kiya finally found the shop he remembered from the last time he’d visited the Plateau ten years ago. 

Behind the counter was a scraggly looking teenage boy who spared Kiya only a single glance before looking back to the scroll in front of him. As far as the boy was concerned, the alchemical recipes he was memorizing were far more important that entertaining a ‘potential customer, especially one that walked in covered in dust looking like he hadn’t bathed in a month.

In front of the teenager was a text that walked an apprentice alchemist through the basic steps in creating a Qi Attraction Pill. Each step from the collection of materials, the preparation of vegetation, the heat for catalysing, and - SLAP!

“Good morning, young boy. Tell me, where is this store’s owner at? I’ve got business with him.” The teenager jumped so hard when Kiya’s hand smacked against the desk that he almost fell out of his seat. Although he didn’t fall from being startled, his heart started pounding in his chest and he nearly yelled. Glowering at the stranger, he replied.

“Master is too busy to speak to the likes of you, vagabond. If you want to make a purchase, if you can even afford to, you can speak to me.” Aggravated, the teenager turned back to his alchemical text. Before he could react, however, the scroll was snatched out from in front of him. Looking up to rebuke the man, the teenager couldn’t help but be genuinely terrified. 

Upon entering the store, Kiya appeared to be a relaxed and affable, if not a little dirty, middle-aged man. Looking into his eyes at that moment though, he seemed like a god of death descended to earth. Just his gaze sent the boy’s previously pounding heart straight into overdrive even as it felt like the blood in his veins stopped flowing. 

Just as quick as that happened, however, it disappeared and a gentleman was standing in front of him again. The slightly lopsided grin didn’t betray the man’s demeanor from only seconds previously and the apprentice began to wonder if he’d imagined it. How could this gentle homeless-looking man have such an aura of bloodlust about him?

“Call the store master, please and thank you!” 

The teenager decided that the goofy grin on the man’s face was decisively more terrifying than the glare considering how quickly the man could flip his switch. He promptly fled to the back of the store to arouse the attention of his master.

“Who is out here threatening my app- Oh! Big brother Kiya! How are you?” A decrepit looking old man wandered out from the back of the store, livid until he saw who was in front of his counter. Upon seeing his master address the man as Big Brother, the apprentice was visibly confused but knew better than to question it. The boy could only watch as Kiya was invited into the backroom by his master, a man who was about as friendly as a raging hurricane.

“Kiya, last we met you said that you’d never be returning to this stinking cesspool of a city. What changed?” The old man poured a small cup of spirits for his friend.

“Family. It appears that my grandson is a rising tide and wants to make an impression at that silly little reunion competition. Who am I to deny him that? Haha, enough of that! How are you? I see you’ve got a new apprentice.”

“That young boy? Pah! He’s barely worth the shop keeping wages I pay him. I have, however, stepped onto the level of an earth ranked alchemist, since you asked. It was a long journey but I’m now indispensable within this town as the only non-mortal ranked pill master. One of only three in the entire plateau! Enough about me though, what have you been up to? Did you finally marry into the rebel branch?”

“Congratulations! When did you advance your realm, you old bastard?” What did it mean to be a silver ranked alchemist? Most trades were divided into metal themed realms. First was mortal, then bronze, silver, and so on. This applied to Artificers, Alchemists, Formation Masters, and almost every other trade as well. To step into silver meant that Kiya’s friend had finally reached Core Formation. Without a core, one would be hard pressed to consistently create pills of the earth rank.

“Also, for the last time, quit calling the Crouching Grass a rebel branch. I know that you are just joking but others don’t, it makes me a bit uncomfortable.”

“Bahaha! Sorry! I just love how offended the entire clan gets when somebody brings the Crouching Grass Fengs. You’d think that their matriarchs killed their fathers or something the way clansmen speak about you all.”

Two generations ago, the first matriarch of Crouching Grass was kicked out of her home for refusing to marry a cousin. She’d told her father that if men could have countless wives, then she could have as many husbands as she wanted. At the time, her father was the acting patriarch of Sünfeng so she was a desirable wife within the clan. She wouldn’t have it though!

She set off from home, refusing to stay within a clan that saw her only as a prize. Naturally, her father sent her on her way with a sizable amount of money. Eventually, she stumbled upon the Crouching Grass Mountain, as it was now called, and purchased the deed for the land. Since then, her branch of the clan kept up a matriarchal chain of command, completely contrary to the rest of the Feng family and, in fact, most of the continent. 

“You know that the Crouching Grass Matriarch rarely marries, little brother. Enough about that, when did you finally form your core? If you’d taken any longer to reach the second stage of the earthen realm I fear you would have been blind and immobile!” 

“Bah! Not everybody is as talented as you, Brother Kiya. I was lucky to have reached core formation before I was one hundred whereas you’d reached that stage in your twenties, many years before we met. Whatever! Boy! Bring me wine!” The older alchemist shouted to his apprentice who quickly scrambled into the back room once more, this time bearing a jug of wine and two clay cups in his hands.

The two older men, once ancient and decrepit the other middle-aged appearance, drank several cups of quality wine as they reminisce on their past. The alchemist had always been thankful to Kiya, his biggest benefactor, since they day he was rescued from an ambushed caravan at the age of nine. From then, nearly a hundred years had passed and yet, Kiya still looked the same as he did that day, fighting off armed bandits with his hands alone.

“Old friend, I’ve come to ask for a favor.” The alchemist was caught off guard by the sudden shift in the conversation. One minute they were laughing and jesting around while drunk, the next Kiya was sober and almost glowering. It wasn’t often that the alchemist saw such a  heavy look on Kiya’s face.

“Speak, whatever I can do you know that I will!” the older looking man began circulating his Qi through his kidney and liver to disperse the alcohol. His was a high vintage so, although it still began to dissipate and he sobered up, it took a few moments. Kiya sat there watching his old friend sober himself before speaking.

“The day I rescued you, you swore to me that you’d follow me for life. I told you, a nine year old boy, that I wanted nothing more than for you to make something of yourself. That I, Kiya, was nothing more than a follower in this life and that I’d dedicated myself to following fate and re establishing my long lost clan.

“At the time, I was pursuing powerful women who would be open to me trying to impregnate as many women as possible.” Kiya had an odd look on his face when he thought about Feng Xiaoke in the past and his many exploits to try and win her heart. “It wasn’t until I saved you and your fellow clansmen that Xiaoke finally gave me the time of day.

“I accepted a position as her consort as it allowed me the freedom I wanted and I even accepted an honorary admittance into your clan. I never told Xiaoke during the years we were together but you, my little friend, you I told everything. 

“You know as well as I do the low fertility rate of my dead clan. Even when I was with Xiaoke, she had other consorts with her just as I had other women I’d slept with. It wasn’t until she was pregnant that I finally left. If fate was just, she’d be with my child. Otherwise, well, what could I do about it?

“I left when she was pregnant and only returned after that child had one of his own. For the longest time I kept tabs on them but Zhipei’s average talent dissuade me from thinking he was my own blood, his plant type martial spirit didn’t do anything to convince me either. It wasn’t until years later I began to suspect, even hope, that he was my own. He and his retainer had so many issues conceiving child, it reminded me of my own problems.

“At this point, I am convinced that Zhipei is my son based entirely on my grandson, little Jiao’er. He is a monsterous talent and his second martial spirit, well… It’s pretty close to my own. After so many years and so many women, I finally have a descendant. Actually, I had three! Imagine my surprise when, after returning to check on my grandson, I found tha tI have two granddaughters as well!” At this point Kiya was actually in tears, which made the alchemist feel unsettled. After being saved by Kiya at a young age, although Kiya did not allow him to follow them he had spent four years with the man. Never once had he seen his savior, benefactor, and mentor so emotional.

“A dual-element, dual-spirited grandson, and two granddaughters who will grow to be stunning beauties. I do not know what I did to deserve such great luck but the heavens have smiled upon me.” The loving smile on Kiya’s face was one that looked like it belonged on an ancient man, watching his descendants play tag or win competitions.

“Kiya, speak. What do you need from me?” At this point, the old alchemist was beginning to get suspicious. 

“Well, Little Chi, I’m sure you realized by now that I know exactly what this years competition will consist of. I’m not asking you to cheat for my grandson, I’m sure that he will win of his volition, I just want you to win a little face for him. Here’s how it is…” 

The two old friends drank well into the night while Jiao and his father were pitching their tent on the northern side of town. While meditating and waiting for the sunrise, Jiao couldn’t help but feel like his nose was particularly itchy that night.