PtM 18 - Chapter 25: And Old Friend

3/3 this week!

Cha Ming woke to the ticking of an old clock. Mould was the predominant smell in the tiny bedroom he found himself in. New clock, he thought. But old, peeling paint. The linens are clean though. That’s something. His old friend Silverfish was many things, but stable was not one of them. That he’d taken the time to take care of a few simple things instead of self destructing while he was gone was a wonderful thing.

The first thing Cha Ming did was go over the condition of his body. His regalia were cracked, but his Clearmist reserves had recovered enough to heal his body. He immediately began converting crystalized Dao Essence and used it to fill his Clearmist pool halfway full. It sank down to a third as his inner universe fixed high priority cracks in its planar membrane and reworked its ruined energy conduits.

It didn’t take long for all but the worst cracks to heal over. He didn’t even try healing the cracks on the Sky Propping Pillar, since according to his past experience, they would take a lot of time to fix.

Three dull paintings floated above his Clearmist lake. Now that the most urgent damage to his inner world was fixed, they started slowly absorbing ambient Clearmist to recover. It wouldn’t be long until they reached the same state as Descent of the Five Sovereigns. As for the Dao Origin Talisman, it was still as gray and lifeless as before. It would remain that way unless Cha Ming stumbled upon an immortal king’s fortune.

“Cha Ming? Are you awake?” came a rough voice from outside the door.

“I’ll be right out,” Cha Ming answered. He pushed himself out of bed and cracked his stiff joints. Body regeneration wasn’t a perfect process, and exercise was required to work out the kinks.

The house was small, but it had a cozy kitchen, a few chairs, and an Angels and Devils board. The board and the stones were law-switching grade artifacts, as was the wok that Silverfish was currently using.

Cha Ming’s eyes narrowed when he saw Silverfish’s Inkwell Clan tattoos. He didn’t feel the same overpowering presence from them he normally did when facing Inkwell Clansmen. Is it because he’s as a half demon or is something else going on? he thought. The tattoos bulged as Silverfish tried to salvage whatever was burning, but otherwise showed no signs of activity.

“Sorry in advance about the taste,” said Silverfish as he shoveled the contents of his wok into two bowls. “I never cook with this stuff, since I usually eat fish every meal.”

Cha Ming took a seat at a small, run-down table and inspected the food. To call it a meal would be an exaggeration. “Beer or wine?” asked Silverfish. He didn’t give Cha Ming a chance to answer before plopping two mugs of Slovana Ale down in front of them.

The walls of the shack were covered in paintings, and each painting had an accompanying poem written in a beautiful runic script. The Crocodile and the Crackling Crane. The Fox and the Tiger. The Man and the Hatchet. Hou Yi Slays Nine Sun… these stories were the ones every child remembered after they grew up and raised their own children. The Cow-Herder and the Weaver Girl evoked precious and painful memories from deep within Cha Ming. But he swallowed them back with his mug of ale and focused on his friend. He’s still the same Silverfish.

“What exactly is this supposed to be?” Cha Ming finally said. He poked his overcooked noodles mixed with thick slabs of seaweed.

“They’re seaweed noodles,” sad Silverfish, looking quite pleased with himself. “I would have made you fish, which is what I usually cook, but I remember you not eating anything with eyes.”

Cha Ming poked the pile of steaming seaweed noodles with his chopsticks. “I won’t lie to you Silverfish. This is disgusting.”

“It’s not that bad,” said Silverfish defensively. “I tried a few pieces.”

“You haven’t changed a bit, Silverfish,” said Cha Ming. “You’re still terrible at cooking, to the point that you don’t even realize it.” Then he cracked a grin. “It’s good to see you, Silverfish.”

“It’s good to see you too, Cha Ming,” said Silverfish. “You’re much stronger than you used to be. Much stronger than I expected you’d become after your return. It looks like the Heartforge Realm lives up to its reputation.”

“I thought I’d grown fast, but I’m nothing compared to you,” Cha Ming said, inspecting his friend’s cultivation. Silverfish had somehow reached the late fusion and late and law stitching realms over the past sixty years. His energy fusion had even reached fifty percent. “Is it the Inkwell bloodline’s influence?”

“Mostly,” Silverfish admitted. “Though my growth has slowed down substantially since Master sealed my bloodline.”

“And how is Elder Ling doing?” asked Cha Ming.

“I’m not sure,” said Silverfish. “This was the last thing he did before vanishing.” He pulled up his shirt to reveal a complex runic circle that had been painted onto his skin overtop his inkwell clan tattoos. The paint was a blend of saint-grade materials, and the runic characters involved were beyond Cha Ming’s comprehension.

“I can’t fully understand this seal, but it seems to be using your Silver Koi bloodline to restrain your Inkwell Clan bloodline,” said Cha Ming. “It’s ingenious and efficient.”

“Suspicious too,” said an infantile voice. Cha Ming rolled his eyes as Ninesky flew onto the table and poked Silverfish in the chest. “How interesting that your seal happens to work when nothing else does. How interesting that you were able to find Cha Ming in the river of spacetime. How did you even manage to pull him out? That place is a death sentence for transcendent cultivators.”

Silverfish exchanged an awkward look with Cha Ming, who simply flicked Ninesky out of the way. “Stop bugging Silverfish. I’m sure he has his ways.”

“I…” Silverfish started. “I’m not sure if I should say.”

“Just say it, or she’ll never stop,” Cha Ming said.

“Well… don’t get mad at me, Cha Ming, but… well…. I was fishing.” Silverfish pointed to a fishing rod laying in a corner of the room. “In the river of spacetime, as I often do. The fishing rod is a special one, and I’ve been catching void flitting eels and eating them on a regular basis. Thus my resistance to spatial energies.”

“And how did you find him, exactly?” pressed Ninesky.

“Luck?” said Silverfish. “My luck has been pretty good lately.”

“So you’re saying you were fishing,” Cha Ming said flatly. “In the river of spacetime. Where you somehow managed to spot me and fish me out?”

“Well… yes,” said Silverfish uncomfortably.

“Well done,” said Cha Ming. “Are you satisfied, Ninesky?”

“Mostly,” said the sprite. She crossed her arms and continued glaring at Silverfish.

“It’s fortunate that I found you just now,” said Silverfish. “I was about to take a trip to one of Slovana’s main cities. I’ve been procrastinating these days because I had a feeling. Which was how I ended up finding you.”

“A fortunate coincidence,” Cha Ming said. They were starting to stack up, and it was worrying him. After all, his luck was downright terrible. “It’s a good thing you rescued me, because I had no idea where to find you. Elder Zhong had no idea where you were either. I was actually out in the Central Inkwell Sea looking for Elder Ling.”

Silverfish frowned. “I don’t see him with you, so I assume that went poorly.”

“I never saw him,” said Cha Ming. “He was supposed to take a trip to the Bridge of Immortal Ascension with the Pale King, but by the time I got there, the Bridge was gone.”

“The Pale King? The Bridge of Immortal Ascension is gone?” said Silverfish. “Both of these things seem highly unlikely.”

“As unlikely as randomly fishing me out of the river of spacetime?” asked Cha Ming.

“Good point,” said Silverfish.

“Judging by the scene I saw when I arrived, there was a great battle near the Bridge of Immortal Ascension,” Cha Ming continued. “I saw pieces of ripped up talismans, a trace of paper laws, and strands of hair stronger than adamantine and reeking with arrogance.”

“You’re saying they fought each other, then?” asked Silverfish. “That makes a lot more sense.”

“They didn’t fight each other,” said Cha Ming. “They fought the will of the world, Melody. And judging by your calm reaction, you’re not completely free of her influence, are you?”

“That… it’s difficult to say,” Silverfish admitted. “Most of the time, it’s bearable, but sometimes, I get a strange feeling. Like someone else is using my eyes to see. Behavior-wise, I don’t feel any different. But I wouldn’tfeel any different, would I?”

“I don’t know,” Cha Ming admitted. “You’re not a painted demon and you have Elder Ling’s seal, but it would be best to remain prudent. There’s no telling how much influence she might have on you.”

“I guessed as much,” Silverfish said. “Which is another reason I cooped myself up here. This place is covered in more warding talismans than you could imagine.”

“That sounds exactly like something Elder Ling would do,” said Cha Ming, recalling his teacher’s old shack in Evergreen City. “You said you were about to head out. What were you planning on doing?”

“I was going to go look for my Master, of course,” said Silverfish.

“And you were going to look for him directly?” asked Cha Ming. “Because even Elder Zhong was helpless in that regard.”

“There happens to be a place that would know where to find him,” said Silverfish. “Don’t forget – he’s the West Sea Guardian.”

“You were going to go look for him in the Inky Sea Sect,” Cha Ming realized. “You have a way in? I heard it’s impossible to find their base of operation and enter without an invitation.” Elder Zhong hadn’t been able to help him with this either.

“The Inky Sea Sect is the will of the world’s jailor,” Silverfish explained. “As such, it’s a bad idea to have people entering and leaving the sect. One needs a special permit to leave, and even then, long term permits like my master’s are hard to come by. I happen to have a permit, and I also know then location. But it’s hard to get to.

“The problem is the Inkwell Clan’s blockade. They have near-perfect information about what happens in the Central Inkwell Sea. It’s impossible for me to sneak past them, which is why my plan involves using a back door into the sect.”

“The starry road,” muttered Cha Ming. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Because it’s as restricted road, and it’s strictly controlled by the Clockwork Clan,” said Silverfish. “One needs permission to even know about it. Fortunately, the one who controls it is a mutual acquaintance of ours.”

“Serrendil?” asked Cha Ming.

“Correct,” said Silverfish. “Her growth has been just as quick as mine due to her inkborn identity. Unfortunately, there was a spat between her and a nearby kingdom, and she’s currently under arrest.”

“This is getting way too convoluted,” Cha Ming said, massaging his brow. “And why haven’t you dived into rescue her exactly?”

“Well… her jailor and I have a complicated history,” Silverfish said. “Truth be told, I wasn’t confident in being able to rescue her. But with you here, our odds of success are pretty good. There’s no way he’d be able to stop the two of us.”

Cha Ming closed his eyes and sighed. “It’s Cao Wenluan, isn’t it.”

“It’s Cao Wenluan,” Silverfish confirmed. “He made a splash in Slovana after returning from the Heartforge Realm. He started off in the arenas, then challenged a king and obtained a kingdom. It’s grown manyfold over the past few months, and rumor has it that he’s now a contender for the hand of the emperor’s youngest daughter, the Princess of Light and Glass.”

“It’s like the universe is trying to stick it to me at every turn,” Cha Ming muttered. “Why is it so darn difficult to kill that cockroach? Tell me, is he a saint yet?”

“He just got back,” Silverfish said. “Sainthood would be impossible, even for him.”

“Then we still have a chance,” said Cha Ming. “But we have to act quickly. His cultivation grows through conquest, and now that he’s not limited to weaker cultivators, he’ll grow much faster than he did in the Heartforge Trials.”

“There are conventions surrounding prisoners in Slovana, so we still have time,” said Silverfish. “I’m just worried about her willingness to be rescued. Her clan is in a very bad position. Something about a dragon metal shortage.”

“Of course there’s a dragon metal shortage,” Cha Ming muttered. “There’s always a dragon metal shortage. Can I take a week to recover? How about two?”

“I don’t think we can wait longer than a week,” said Silverfish. “Cao Wenluan’s charm is strong. Any longer, and she might capitulate.”