Chapter 170: Death at the Summits, V

"Senior Sister Wuling," Wu Hao said, eagerly watching to see if he could see anything else. "I've changed, yes?"

Sister Wuling gave a puzzled smile. "Yes. Why?"

"Do you want to have another spar?" Wu Hao pressed. "I'm itching to test myself. See how far I can go."

"What my disciple means," master Shu cut in, "is that he hopes that perhaps you will do him the pleasure of showing him how far he still has left to go."

Wu Hao nodded, though he didn't see the point in rewording it like that. Didn't both of those mean the same thing?

"Ah," Sister Wuling said awkwardly. "Well - "

"Don't worry," master Shu said. "I think it's a bad idea, myself."

"What?" Wu Hao asked. "Why?"

Master Shu's hand flashed to the back of Wu Hao's head and clipped him neatly across the noggin, though Wu Hao had tried to dodge.

"Because I say so," the master drawled. "Don't impose on our hosts for more than they're willing to give. We're more than grateful for the help they already offered us."

He'd spoken that last bit a little louder, as if to make sure that it reached the women that now came together over one of the bridges from another peak.

Beyond them being women, there was very little to tie them together, as loosely grouped in terms of dress as they were in their qi. The qi of some wove like butterflies, others the proud mountain breeze, and yet others were massed pinpricks of light, floating through the air, suggesting needles. There were various colors of hairpins in the hair of those women who weren't bald, Buddhist icons and the like in the hands of those that were.

The Flower Sovereign stood at their head, the oldest of them all. For all that she didn't look the oldest, her seniority was clear from the respect she was showed and the way the group was clustered around her, a grandmother surrounded by daughters and granddaughters. When she moved the rest of the group moved; when she spoke, the rest of the group answered if called upon.

Her qi was a massive field of flowers. It wasn't so different from sister Wuling's own, except that the kind of tranquility that emanated was far greater. The impression of that field stretched far into the distance even though her qi was carefully contained and at perfect ease. It was impossible to determine what was below the flowers, because the canopy of petals and blossoms was so thick that it didn't let a single gap of the surface below show through.

Wu Hao wondered if that was the veil he was seeing or her actual qi. A bit of both, he decided.

When she had reached them, she stared fearlessly into Master Shu's eyes.

"Absent Sovereign," she said, a little wryly.

"Flower Sovereign," Master Shu responded evenly.

"I see your disciple has reached the next stage," the Flower Sovereign said, her eyes sweeping over him. "You've made good use of the Jade Orchid. Very good."

"I have," Wu Hao said, though he hadn't expected to have been included.

"Well done," she told him, her face creasing into a soft smile. "And I wanted to thank you, by the way, for saving two of my flock. They're silly girls, really, but they mean the best."

Wu Hao nodded.

"No problem," he said, and tried to think of anything else to say. "I'm glad I was able to help."

The Flower Sovereign nodded at him, and he couldn't help but think that he'd been more on point than he'd thought, calling her a grandmother, although he also couldn't help but think that she was treating him a little too much like a child for his liking.

"Now," Master Shu said, clearing his throat. "About the matter we discussed earlier..."

"Yes," the Flower Sovereign said, showing no surprise. "It is as discussed, Shu Renqing. As always, we of the Emei will give our lives to the pursuit of eradicating evil. We will send out squads of our disciples as soon as we have ascertained who is ready and who is not."

Master Shu nodded. "Good to hear."

She squinted up at him, and Master Shu stared wordlessly back. Qi swirled between the two of them, despite no words being spoken, before Master Shu finally shook his head, grumbling.

"Fine," he said. "If that's what you've decided."

"It is," the Flower Sovereign told him. She might have been smiling slightly. "I myself will not take to the field. My time is past, and is spent better here tending to the flowers and my disciples."

Master Shu might have scowled but it was gone from his face too quickly to tell. This, Wu Hao thought, had to be an old argument, revived by last night's conversation. Just from what they'd said, he thought that he could maybe guess what it was about.

"You have a disciple yourself," the Flower Sovereign reminded him. "Perhaps consider a similar approach. There's nothing to be gained from arranging everything for them. Yes, it is dangerous, but that same danger is what allows them to rise. Flowers grow in greenhouses, but the true treasures flourish in the wild forests. So say the traditions of the jianghu."

But the old man shook his head.

"You have many disciples," he said. "I only have the one."

There was a short spike of outrage in the qi around them, but the Flower Sovereign held up her hand to the other women who had been listening in and they quieted, though their anger at Master Shu essentially calling them all callous didn't fade. The Flower Sovereign didn't seem insulted, but Wu Hao winced nonetheless.

For all that the old man had once told him that he had a talent of making enemies, in that aspect at least master and disciple appeared to be similar.

"I don't intend to remove all the obstacles from his path, but if others cut the path short, then should it not be our responsibility to ensure they are removed?" Master Shu stated. It wasn't a question.

"Who are we to determine if a path ends? Let them decide when to call us in," the Flower Sovereign said. "Let them experience danger and growth alike, finding their own feet."

Master Shu inclined his head, to Wu Hao's surprise. He'd considered the old man too prideful to admit his wrongs.

"There is wisdom to that," he allowed. "I'll consider that."

The Flower Sovereign smiled at him.

"But I shall consider it on the road," Master Shu said. "It's about time we started on our travels again. I apologize for any offense I've given."

"It is fine," the Flower Sovereign said. "We sometimes say insensitive things, but your words are born from a foundation of wanting the best for others. I do not take offense."

"Thank you," Master Shu said, and turned. "Ready, boy?"

"I've been ready for a while now," Wu Hao grumbled.

"Disciples," the Flower Sovereign said. There was some amusement in her tone, maybe. The group behind her, who had been observing quietly, snapped out of it. "See out our guests, please."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Yes, Matriarch!" they chorused. They bowed to Master Shu, who accepted their bow with a raised hand. "Safe travels, Absent Sovereign!"

Master Shu nodded magnanimously. The Flower Sovereign retreated first, taking the disciples with her.

"Right," Wu Hao said. "Now what?"

Wu Hao turned to see the master take a single, confident step, already striding towards the stairs; in the next moment he had already disappeared into a shimmer of black and white. Wu Hao was left to trek down the mountainside by himself. The group of women behind him had already turned away.

There was nothing holding him back, so he went down the stairs, eager to test himself against them. The first ascent had been a hell of staving off boredom and exhaustion, but that had been as a third-grade martial artist. Now that he'd reached the rank of second-grade, it'd have to be easier, right?

Stopping just in front of the first step, he watched the enormous open space in front of him. The stairs looked narrower than they were, and a thin fog covered the lower end of the staircase so that his eyes couldn't have seen that the master had already arrived there.

He took a deep breath, pushed qi to the bottom of his feet, and feeling his heart beat faintly against the inside of his ribs, he activated his movement technique, using more qi than he ever had before for his Dragon Gate Ascending Movement Art. It didn't hurt. Honestly, he felt that he could've used far more without it hurting him in the slightest, but that vague annoyance was quickly forgotten in the fact that he had just hurtled himself into the air, and his feet were treading the sky.

It wasn't flying, though. That was for Sovereigns, maybe some first-grade martial artists. He was closer now than he had been before, but not that close.

Yet.

Wu Hao's robes fluttered in the air, the wind roaring in his ears, and he allowed himself a wild grin even as he began to plummet downwards. Then he pushed more qi to his feet, feeling it pool almost gently beneath his left foot.

The moment he touched the ground he pushed off again, the movement art suddenly seamless; with another immense leap he flew forward again, his footfalls like a giant's skipping steps. Beneath his feet the stonework protested and groaned but, occupied with the sheer pleasure of the speed he was now capable of, he accelerated, further and further, until suddenly the ground was in sight.

Feeling very unwilling, he let the qi that was propelling him forward peter out. His next step down was softer, giving him less airtime, and the ones after that were softer and slower still, until finally he stood at the foot of the stairs and had to take a few hopping steps to shed the last of his momentum.

Master Shu regarded him with some amusement. Wu Hao puffed out a quick breath, feeling proud of himself, no matter what the old man said.

"I thought that I'd sealed away the tiger's impulses influencing you," he mused. "You mean to tell me you're like this unprovoked?"

Wu Hao scowled, earlier pleasure fading. He raked a hand through his hair just to try and get it to settle, but he had no luck.

Together they waited for the carriage, which was ambling its way down the road towards them. The coachman looked refreshed enough from his day off. Wu Hao hadn't actually spoken to him much. In fact, now that he was thinking about it, he hadn't ever actually said a word to the man.

The horses' reins were pulled when the carriage had stopped right in front of the stairs. Wu Hao wasn't exactly glad to see it again - no matter how comfortable it was, its confines still felt cramped to him. The master waved a hand to pull the door open and walked in without further ado.

Wu Hao did so too, though he nearly banged his knees against the doorframe as he did so. He was still adjusting to being taller than he had been.

When they were both sitting down again, a process which had involved the master putting several of the pillows just so, the master looked over the carriage with a pleased eye.

"Better than that ramshackle hut," he muttered to himself, and rapped against the wood near the coachman's cab.

There was a slight pull that Wu Hao hadn't been able to feel before, with how minute it was, and then he could feel the sense of movement as the horses pulled the carriage back into motion. He was now more sensitive than the arrays' dampening. That was interesting.

"So," Wu Hao said eagerly. "What's the next step?"

Master Shu closed his book and looked over at Wu Hao.

"The next step," he said, "is too distant for you still, disciple. Before we can start you on the next step, you need to familiarize yourself with what you've achieved until now. A foundation that's built too quickly will collapse; trying to eat while you've barely digested the last meal is a recipe for disaster."

"Was that a pun?" Wu Hao asked. He was ignored.

"Our journey continues," master Shu said. "We're currently in Sichuan. Tell me, brat. What martial arts sects are in Sichuan?"

"The Emei Sect," Wu Hao said immediately. "And the Qingcheng."

"And?"

"And... branches of several others?" Wu Hao asked.

Master Shu snorted.

"Right," he said, and opened his book again, ostentatiously. "I think it's perhaps time that you open those books again, brat. Maybe you'll even be clever enough to figure out where we're going."

"At least give me some kind of hint," Wu Hao protested. "How long are we going to be travelling?"

Master Shu shook his head, but in the end after Wu Hao had stared at him for a while he relented with a sigh.

"Fine," he said. He thought for a bit, then said: "What did we come to Mount Emei to do?"

"To pick up the Jade Orchid," Wu Hao said. "And... well, to convince them to join us against the Demon Cult. So how far -"

"Correct," Master Shu said. "So. Put another way, that was an errand that I ran on your behalf, boy. Our next destination is an errand for me."

"An errand?" Wu Hao asked, trying to ponder that particular puzzle.

What did a Sovereign even need anymore? He had food, and he had money, and he had power. He had a house, he had subordinates, he had clothes. What else was there? Wu Hao glanced at the master, who had buried his nose back into his book, and whose body language was carefully calculated to tell Wu Hao that he'd have to figure it out himself.

Fine. He didn't need a hint, then. He settled his back against the old wood of the carriage and pulled the book that the master had given him last time out of his storage space.

He'd find out soon enough, anyway.