Immortal Connections - Chapter 33 preview

Chapter 33 - Wu Ying

Shou Ren was in his rooms, waiting for him. Wu Ying could not decide if he was flattered or annoyed to find the man there already. After all, now that the presentation was over, his duties as teacher and guide into immortal society was over. Leaving only…

Well. Friendship perhaps.

“How did it go?” Shou Ren asked.

“How did you know about the examination?” Wu Ying said, for they had brought him to the other rooms directly after their argument. 

“A man has methods.” Wu Ying’s glare forced the gentleman to elaborate. “I paid some of the servants to tell me what they overhear. You would be surprised what the servants know. Especially immortal servants.”

Funny, in a sense, that all the way here, among the heavens, there were still servants. Not to discount those who desired this, who rose to the heavens bearing a dao of service, who found meaning and purpose in the act of aiding others.

Yet, it felt strange too – to have nobles and servants, to have magisters and ministers and those who served them. Was that part of the dao? Some might believe so, and some form of organization was required when groups of individuals worked together. Yet, he could not help but recall other stories, of wise and powerful Daoist masters who turned down the position of rulers, knowing that such positions were not for them.

Outside of the Dao itself, for in an ideal world, there were no rulers, but individuals who moved to the flow of the eternal and infinite way. There was no need for guidance or rules, for each action was perfection itself – whether it seemed so in the present.

Yet that was an ideal world, one where all grasped the Dao in its entirety. Not the imperfect one that they existed within. In this jagged edged reality, perhaps servants and rulers were required. If not because one was lower than the other, but because the need to organise and delegate actions, for those who were more in tune with the eternal Dao to pass on what little wisdom they had.

Perhaps. 

It sat ill with Wu Ying even so.

“Well?” Shou Ren prompted.

“The mortal examination was simple enough. The immortal…” Wu Ying shrugged. “I do not believe they intended for me to pass, nor for anyone to do so.” 

“And the wind dao, that was you?” At Wu Ying’s agreement, he continued. “It explains much then.”

“Oh?”

“Your ability to immerse yourself in the various documents and manuals, the hunger for knowledge, your skill with the jian and the speed of your improvement in your battles.” Shou Ren smirked. “You perhaps might have missed the discussion you have generated but the rate of improvement you have showcased has been rather startling. That it is based around your dao will put to rest much of the speculation” Then he sighed dramatically. “Sadly, I fear I shall lose my bet.”

“You were betting against me?” Wu Ying said.

“About the reason for your startling improvement.” Shou Ren eyes danced with humor. “I believed you were the bastard scion of an dragon and mortal, given unfair advantage by lineage and patronage.”

“I’m not certain if I should be insulted by that.” 

“Then don’t be. It’s so passe.”

Wu Ying rolled his eyes, wandering over to the side table and pouring himself a cup of tea. “What are you doing here anyway? Surely you are no longer restricted to the palace?”

“Not at all.” Shou Ren shrugged. “They allow us three days to leave the palace, though few take advantage of that grace period. Most – especially those who sign on with the Ministry of War – must report to their stations within a day anyway.”

“And for yourself? For the ones who failed to be recruited?” Wu Ying asked, curiously.

“We are given some minor funds and subsidized transportation to the nearest capital of the heavens they may handle,” Shou Ren said. “Most end up in the first few layers of the heavens, of course. Only a few are able to exist in higher layers.” He frowned, as he continued. “Nor will they pay for your travel again, if you find yourself unable to handle the higher concentration of immortal chi.”

“Ah….” Wu Ying breathed out, understanding now. For safety’s sake, most would choose to start lower. He knew, from his reading, that travel between layers of heaven were harder, the gates that shifted one between each heavens heavily guarded and expensive to utilize. Only a few – with their dao, with spiritual instruments of their own like the thousand li cloud or wind fire wheels – could traverse the realms easily. “And then?”

“Then what?”

“What do you intend to do, now that you’ve been rejected?”

Shou Ren shrugged. “What do all delineate scholars do?” He smiled. “Drink wine, compose poems, study and pontificate of course.”

“Somehow, I cannot imagine that you are content with just that for your existence.”

The gentleman with the great skin smirked. “I will, of course, endeavor to position myself to be recruited when the Jade Emperor finally decides to open recruitment into the Chancellery once more. But one cannot force another to change nor dictate one’s recruitment.”

“True enough.” Wu Ying sardonically smiled. “Or stop them from recruiting you when one doesn’t want it, it seems.”

“Let us hope that is not the case,” Shou Ren said. “Though, one wonders why you did not just walk away.”

“Call it being overly ambitious. A bad trait picked up by my companion, who never saw an opportunity that she was not willing to exploit.”

“The Silver Merchant, you said?” Wu Ying nodded. “And it is her that you intend to find a solution, a way to raise though her dao might be too complicated?” At his slightly startled look, Shou Ren smirked. “It is not hard to guess such things.”

"I had not thought you were paying that much attention."

"I'm always paying attention, but especially to my student." 

"I had not thought our relation that close," Wu Ying said, automatically declining the added burden of a student and teacher relationship. Certainly, he had no desire to take on the formal obligations such a designation might entail.

"You don't think what I taught you has any merit?" Shou Ren put on a highly aggrieved look, placing a hand to his chest as he did so.

"Please. You know what I mean."

"I do." Shou Ren said, immediately dropping the act. "So. You intend to continue your efforts then? Find a herb or some other method to raise your woman?"

"To help her rise," Wu Ying corrected. "I do not believe that she would accept shortcuts however."

"Oh good, I was about to caution you about trying to steal into the orchard. They've increased security around the peaches of immortality greatly. Ever since the Great Sage's own antics."

"I would expect no less," Wu Ying murmured. "But no, my own efforts will be more focused on other aspects."

"And the Jade Palace's dictums on not affecting the Middle Kingdom?" Shou Ren said.

That caused Wu Ying to hesitate, never having been asked so bluntly about the rules he intended to break. While immortals were not entirely forbidden from entering the Middle Kingdom, it was highly discouraged from doing so. Those who served the Jade Palace directly had more expressly forbidden rules.

"She is only a single cultivator," Wu Ying said eventually. "How important could she be to the world below?"