Immortal Connections - Chapter 55 preview

Chapter 55 - Wu Ying

The inside the compound was a mixture of farm, barn and residence. Once past the main gate and the privacy wall before it, Wu Ying turned the corner to be met with an unusual sight. The main residence itself was set far back, complex spatial wards managing to compress the vast land within till he was within the residence itself.

Inside the compound, large gardens with multiple forms of spirit herbs dotted the land in place of a lawn, flagstone pathways leading to a smoke house to the right, a pond to the left that fed into a stream that ran under and through the separate house itself and, finally, penned fields for various animals.

Most, Wu Ying could tell immediately, were no more sapient than your average animal. A few, however, like the monkey that stood patiently awaiting the stunned pair to move, and the rooster that had flapped over to the top of the main residence; were evolved spirit beasts. Over there, a pair of pigs rooted around their stye, happily consuming the meal that had been tossed within – a mixture of meat, stew and leftover vegetables. Here, by his side, a dog padded beside him, it’s tail wagging slowly and carefully as it regarded Wu Ying.

Traversing the grounds along the pounded earth walkway to the residence, Wu Ying noted the multiple pillars set between fields, at the edges of the fenced in yards and the themselves. Each of them were carved and replete with formations, ones familiar to the gatherer as they had utilized similar formations in the sect itself to influence the environment.

Though it was not his area of expertise, Wu Ying understood enough to be impressed with the number and complexity of the formations being utilized, the way each field was balanced against one another. He was also, upon studying the formations further, cleaer than ever that the methodology utilized by the immortals for formations were different. Perhaps not necessarily more advanced than in the Middle Kingdom, but certainly a different form.

“She’s rich,” Ze Mu muttered.

“And why would you say that?” Wu Ying asked.

“Look at this!” He waved a hand around. “Do you think spatial enchantments are cheap? Or upkeep of these formations and land easy to come about.”

“I thought there was a significant lack of scarcity,” Wu Ying said.

“There are still differences, between individuals. The resources required for all this, to make others work on, maintain and improve these formations are not without cost. We might not care about our time to the same degree, and these look to be quite well built so require less work; but we still do value ourselves.” 

“Of course. I never thought otherwise.” He shrugged. “I still find it difficult to understand, how there can be so much – and yet, for there to be such differences between, in funds and status.”

"There must be a hierachy, if there is no order. For those who refuse to join such a hierachy, to take their place in the world and follow the dictates of heaven, then it should not be surprising that they fell through the cracks."

"If you don't obey, you have no value?"

"That is the view as expressed to me." Ze Mu smiled, sardonically. "Obviously, I do not agree with that myself."

"Obviously." After all, Ze Mu had been among those who had sought to wallay him, a newly descending immortal to take his funds. A bandit, and thus, by virtue of that; an outlaw. 

"It's funny. There's a long and some might even say, respected, tradition of outlaws and other outcasts acting against the ordained government for the betterment of all. When the government has lost its mandate from heaven." Wu Ying mused quietly as they came up to the building itself, having crossed the long walk with the dog padding by his side and the farm animals watching him. "One wonders, what the excuse might one come up with, when it is the very heavens itself that one struggles against."

"If one is smart, one would not speak of such things so easily and publicly,” the voice that emanated from the mansion was droll and dry and female. Moments later, the door swung open, a short, heart-shaped older woman coming out. Her hair had turned white, her skin lined with great age but she moved with the vigor of one much younger. “The heavens have ears everywhere, even on this, most unimportant of levels.”

Spiritual senses extended a short distance from him at an appropriately controlled and social level, Wu Ying had not expected to sense the woman before him till now. However, standing before him now, in the flesh; he should have expected to note her presence. Ze Mu by his side was a blaze, a jumping, sparking one that had yet to learn control – a flame that burnt high and hot, but nowhere near the intensity of say Minister Yu.

“Mother Ong.” Wu Ying made quick introductions, even as he battled the disparate senses that he was receiving. On one hand, his spiritual sense struggled to locate her. She was missing from his senses – the way the wood in her residence, the earth beneath their feet was missing. Present, but a background level of strength.

At the same time, the winds were screaming by his side, reacting as though she was a vast and unmoving power. It spoke to him of a strength that rivaled, if not dwarfed, the Minister’s. A strength that reminded him of the Jade Emperor, at least in the way his winds were reacting to her.

Not anathema, but also not controlled.

“You wish to sell me some herbs, I understand. Well, go on then.” She gestured and a table appeared, dropping the last inch to the ground with a heavy thump and embedding itself in the ground such that tiny depressions appeared in the soft earth. 

“Some herbs, but also, to ask for your wisdom, if it is possible.” Wu Ying unslung his backpack, extracting herbs in bundles from within as he continued. By this point, Ze Mu understood his role, helping Wu Ying to arrange the herbs on the table in some form of order. 

“My wisdom?” A snort. “What? You don’t look like you’re interested in husbandry at all.”

“The elder is quite correct. Animals are… messy.” Wu Ying tilted his head to the watching creatures. “No offence meant.” Then, tapping the vegetables before him, continued. “However, I understand that Mother Ong has great knowledge, in the herbs and spirits around; that she might need the help of a humble – and still learning – gatherer?”

Mother Ong hummed a little as she stared at the herbs, sorting through the plants and cuttings that were displayed for her. Once he had emptied out the backpack, as the woman sorted, pushed some aside, tossed others over her shoulder into a woven basket and carefully collected others, Wu Ying would extract the wooden and jade cases that carried the rarer, more delicate plants.

Ze Mu flinched each time she discarded some plant with little care, opened his mouth to protest but then shut it when he noticed that Wu Ying who owned the plants took no action to stop the woman. Still, he continued to look visibly uncomfortable as she swept through the work of weeks in short minutes.

“You have some skill. Not the best I’ve seen, but considering you’ve just stated your journey – a respectable level,” Mother Ong said, finally. “Poor knowledge though, or outdated ones. I take it you studied the works in the Jade Palace?”

“In the Hall of Lesser Harmonies, yes.”

“I told Ah Yu that she needed to update those…” Mother Ong muttered, then shook her head. “It’s always a problem, of course, when you have all the knowledge of the thirty six heavens and thousand hells; to keep everything up to date. Even immortal scholars need rest.”

Wu Ying stayed silent, waiting. Curious what she would do, what her intentions were. He knew he had little leverage with this woman, other than walking away. Yet instinct told him that he would not find a better mentor, a better source of knowledge.

“I’ll take all of it but that pile.” She nodded to one smaller section that held some plants, cuttings and four of his boxes including the Stinging Crimson Lily that Ze Mu had struggled to pick. “Those, you should see Fan Lu about.”

Then, spinning on her heel she walked away, gesturing for the monkey with one hand. That monkey jumped over to the first of the piles, taking the discards in the woven basket over to the waiting pigs. At the entrance to her residence, she called out.

“Coming?”